THE LIFE AND TIMES 

OF 

HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 




Henry Gassaway Davis 



THE LIFE AND TIMES 

OF 

HENRY G ASS A WAY DAVIS 

1823—1916 



BY 



CHARLES M. PEPPER 



Disce ut semper victurus; vive ut eras moriturus 

Work as if you were to live forever; live as if 

you were to die to-morrow 




NEW YORK 

THE CENTURY CO. 

1920 






Copyright, 1920, by 
The Century Co. 



Published, February, ig20 



MAR -3 1920 



0)CIA5650?2 



PREFACE 

The pages that follow are the record of a remarkable 
life, a life written in deeds. Henry Gassaway Davis 
for three-quarters of a century was absorbed in the 
healthy activities in which a constructive mind naturally 
found expression. The romance of railway building, 
the development of natural resources, the creation of 
industrial communities, all of which marked definite 
stages in the progress of the country, were one phase 
of his character. Public service, political leadership, 
citizenship in its highest sense, were another aspect. 
Generations that came and went left him pursuing his 
course with unabated energy. 

The source material for this work existed in a mass 
of contemporary documents relating to public affairs, 
in newspapers and periodicals extending through more 
than half a century, and in a large volume of letters and 
private papers. The thanks of the author are due to 
the family for the access to these papers and for their 
assistance in many ways. Personal association in the 
later years of his career afforded insight into his char- 
acter and the motives which governed his business en- 
terprises and his support of international projects such 
as the Pan-American Railway. All this material has 
been studied with a view to exhibiting his life and times 
as a whole. In a career which covered so long and so 
eventful a period and which embraced so many and 
varied activities the most that can be done is to exhibit 
it in outline. 



PREFACE 

Perhaps the reader in following this history will un- 
derstand why the life of Henry Gassaway Davis is 
worthy of permanent record. His broadly human sym- 
pathies endeared him to his fellow-countrymen, but 
there was more than this to enlist their enduring in- 
terest. His was a many-sided character. In his early 
struggles against adversity, in his qualities of initiative, 
in his individuality and self-confidence, in the sentiment 
which centered in the region that owed so much to him 
for the development of its resources, in his habit of look- 
ing forward, in his abiding faith in the institutions of 
his country, in his willingness to do his part as a citizen 
and his readiness to accept political responsibilities, 
people saw in him the Distinctive American. Such was 
Henry Gassaway Davis throughout his long and honor- 
able and useful life. It is as such that these pages seek 
to record him. 

C. M. P. 

Washington, January, 1920. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter I p^^gh 

ANCESTRY AND YOUTH 3 

Leaves from Maryland's Colonial history — Two ancient 
worthies — The Davises and the Browns — Memories of Good- 
fellowship estate — Parents of Henry Gassaway Davis — Balti- 
more at the time of his birth — The child who saw Charles 
Carroll lay the corner-stone of the first railway — Epochal 
events — Baltimore and Ohio's test of Peter Cooper's engine — 
Effect of family reverses on a carefree lad — Earning money 
at the stone quarry — Plantation steward for Governor Howard 
— Beginning of railroad career 



Chapter II 

PIONEER RAILWAY DAYS 17 

A brakeman on the Baltimore and Ohio — Crude methods of 
early days — Reasons for Davis's promotion — Washington in the 
'40' s — Famous passengers — Henry Clay's friendship — The con- 
ductor's courtship and marriage — Duties as station agent at 
Piedmont — Crossing the crest of the Alleghanies — Leaving the 
railroad service for business — General merchandising — Coal 
and lumber enterprises — Establishing a bank — Civil War con- 
ditions — Supplies for the railway under difficulties — Contractor 
Davis's interview with Lincoln — Extensive land purchases after 
the war 



Chapter III 
EARLY PUBLIC LIFE 



West Virginia a war-born State— Davis's belief in separa- 
tion from the Old Dominion — Election to the Legislature as a 
Union-Conservative — Paucity of lawyers — Status of ex-Con- 
federates—Reasons for test oaths and disfranchisement — 
Party passions — Committee assignments — Fiscal subjects and in- 
ternal improvements — Delegate to Democratic National Con- 
vention—Election to State Senate — Repeal of test laws — Strug- 
gle over enfranchisement legislation — The debt question — Sec- 
ond election to State Senate — Democrats in power — Adventures 
of legislators in midwinter journey to Charleston — Work of 
the session — Election to United States Senate 

V 



34 



vi CONTENTS 

Chapter IV page 

SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES— FIRST TERM . 54 

Notable members of the Forty-second Congress — The Demo- 
cratic minority in the Senate — Partizan measures and sectional 
issues — Senator Davis's assignment to Claims and Appropria- 
tions committees — Speech in support of West Virginia war 
claims — Financial legislation in the Forty-third Congress — 
Panic of 1873 portrayed — Mobility of currency advocated — 
President Grant's veto of the Inflation Bill — Resumption of 
specie payments — Work as member of Committee on Transpor- 
tation Routes — West Virginia waterways — Political revolution 
gives Democrats a majority in the House — Forty-fourth Con- 
gress — Senator Davis on treasury accounts and government 
bookkeeping — National and State Campaigns of 1876 — Reelec- 
tion to the Senate — Support of Electoral Commission 

Chapter V 

SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES— SECOND TERM . 73 

Parties as affected by President Hayes's Administration — 
Remonetization of silver — Democratic majority in the Senate 
of the Forty-sixth Congress — New colleagues — Senator Davis 
as chairman of the Appropriations Committee — Advocacy of a 
Department of Agriculture — Modest provisions for the farm- 
ers — Camden as a colleague — Treasury accounts again — An 
unqualified protection Democrat — Defense of the tariff on 
coal — West Virginia and debts of honor — Business reasons for 
declining a third term — Resolution of State Legislature — Re- 
sume of public questions during twelve years' service — Growth 
of appropriations — James G. Blaine's tribute to Senator Davis 

Chapter VI 
THE RAILWAY BUILDER 90 

East-and-west trunk lines through West Virginia — Unde- 
veloped regions between the north and south systems — The 
Davis projects — His own story of prospecting trips — Early ex- 
peditions into the forest wilderness — Timber observations^ 
Exploring unknown coal-fields — Surveys for West Virginia 
Central Railway — Planning the route — Notable statesmen and 
capitalists enlisted in the enterprise — Horseback trip to White 
Sulphur Springs — Opening of the line in 1881 — Industrial com- 
munities created — Contemporary account of the railway and 
the region it developed — Controversy with the Baltimore and 
Ohio — Making the system independent 

Chapter VII 
INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN CONFERENCES ... 105 

Awakening of interest in the countries to the south — First 
Conference at Washington in 1889-90 — Mr. Davis appointed a 
delegate by President Harrison — Andrew Carnegie a colleague 
— Secretary Blaine's address of welcome — Organization and 
work of the Conference — International banks and transporta- 



CONTENTS vii 

PAGE 

tion — Bureau of American Republics — Mr. Davis appointed by 
President McKinley a delegate to the Mexican Conference in 
1901-02 — His associates — High character of representatives 
from the other Republics — Golden Age of Mexico under Por- 
firio Diaz — Personnel of Mexican delegation — Tokens of re- 
spect for "The Senator" — Reasons for declining to be the pre- 
siding officer — Speech on the Monroe Doctrine — Important re- 
sults achieved — Farewell tributes to Mr. Davis 



Chapter VIII 

THE PAN-AMERICAN RAILWAY i2r 

Intercontinental trunk line the concept of men of vision — 
Mr. Davis's faith shown at the first conference — Activities 
on the survey commission — Value of engineering reconnais- 
sances — Summary of the route — Support given the project by 
the Mexican Conference — Creation of permanent Pan-Ameri- 
can Railway Committee— Its work— Special commissioner au- 
thorized by Congress — His report on status and prospects of 
the enterprise— Chairman Davis analyzes traffic and other ob- 
jections—Relation to commerce and national development — 
Indorsement by subsequent Congresses— Steps to interest capi- 
talists — Approval by International High Commission — Link 
between Harrison and Wilson administrations 



Chapter IX 

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES AS A PRIVATE CITIZEN . . 136 

Support of Senator Bayard in 1884— Cleveland's nomination 
at Chicago — Talk of Mr. Davis for Vice-President — He urges 
Hendricks — Campaign work — Visit to Albany— Explanation 
of his interest in Mr. Blaine — National Conventions in 1888--- 
Prophecy of Harrison's nomination — Mr. Davis declines to be 
a_ candidate for Governor — Visit to the President-elect at In- 
dianapolis — Cabinet suggestions — Campaign of 1892 — Disrup- 
tion in the Democratic party — Support of Bryan and Free 
Silver in 1896— West Virginia politics— View of national election 
in 1900 

Chapter X 

SOCIAL LIFE AT DEER PARK AND WASHNGTON . . 152 

Building a summer home in the Alleghany wilderness 

Glimpses of the mountain farm — Mr. Davis's love of country 
life — Sowing oats and buckwheat— Shearing the sheep — Evolu- 
tion of Deer Park into the summer capital — Distinguished visi- 
tors—Senatorial guests— Cardinal Gibbons— Ex-President 
Grant — President Cleveland's honeymoon — Fishing and other 
incidents — President Harrison and his family — Social side of 
official life in Washington — White House dinners — New Year's 
receptions — Entertainments for Senator Davis at the end of 
his term — Residence in Baltimore— First state dinner of Presi- 
dent and Mrs. Cleveland 



viii CONTENTS 

Chapter XI pace 

VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION AND AFTER . . i66 

State of the Democratic party in 1904 — Revival of conserva- 
tive forces — Mr. Davis a delegate to the St. Louis Convention 
— Cleveland elements in control — Mr. Bryan's fight in the Plat- 
form Committee for silver — Compromise by omission — Judge 
Parker's nomination for President — Mr. Davis's story of his 
own nomination for Vice-President — Welcome by his neighbors 
at Elkins — Turn given the campaign by Judge Parker's gold 
telegram — Objections to Mr. Davis on the score of age — Noti- 
fication at White Sulphur Springs — Speech by John Sharp 
Williams — Response — Campaigning at eighty-one — Philosophic 
acceptance of result — Activities during the four years that fol- 
lowed — Urged by his party in West Virginia for various offices 
— Reasons for declining — Delegate to the Baltimore Convention 
in 1912 — Support of Wilson and Marshall 

Chapter XII 

BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AT FOURSCORE AND BEYOND 185 

A busy man's casual enumeration of his interests — Sale of 
the West Virginia Central Railway — Looking around for new 
fields to employ capital — Imprisoned resources in heart of the 
State — Mineral and timber reserves awaiting an outlet — Coal 
and Coke Railway projected by Mr. Davis — Route from Elkins 
to Charleston — Exploring trips at eighty — Progress of the line 
described — First train when the builder was eighty-four — 
Communities brought into life — Mr. Davis as active head of 
the railroad — Looking after the traffic and finances — Local de- 
velopment enterprises — Other business responsibilities 

Chapter XIII 
WEST VIRGINIA 196 

Commemorating the half century of a war-born State — 
Recognition of Henry G. Davis's part in upbuilding the com- 
monwealth — His early exposition of its resources — President 
of Board of Trade — Tributes to him as a pioneer in develop- 
ment — Head of Bankers' Association — Service on Tax Com- 
mission — Memories of epochal events — Speech on anniversary 
of first battle at Philippi — Semi-Centennial Celebration at 
Wheeling — Mr. Davis's modest account of his work — Golden 
Jubilee honors for the Grand Old Man — His review of the 
moral and material progress of West Virginia — Promises of 
the future — Poetic interpretation of achievement and aspiration 

Chapter XIV 

BENEFACTIONS AND PHILANTHROPIES 210 

The habit of giving — Interest in free schools — Sentiment in- 
spired by higher education — Permanent endowment for Davis 
and Elkins College — Contributions to religious objects — A home 



CONTENTS IX 

^ PACT 

missionary s illuminating letter — Filial sentiment given expres- 
sion in church edifice — Family affection exemplified in a me- 
morial hospital— Failure of plans for girls' industrial school — 
Realization of similar idea in Child's Shelter — Mr. Davis's deep 
personal interest in the homeless little ones — Belief in organized 
Christianity — Substantial support of Young Men's Christian 
Association — Eulogy of its methods 



Chapter XV 
FAMILY AND KINDRED 222 

Deeply rooted affections of Mr. Davis — Sentiment for the 
ancestral home Goodfellowship — Recalling the children of Caleb 
Davis and Louisa Brown — The four brothers — The tie between 
Henry and Thomas — A brother's tribute — Friendship for his 
cousin, Arthur P. Gorman — ^Warm eulogy of Senator Elkins, 
his son-in-law — Children of Henry G. Davis and Kate Bantz 
— Marriages, births, and deaths — Loss of eldest son at sea — 
Fifty years of ideal married life — Death of Mrs. Davis — The 
final resting-place 



Chapter XVI 

FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES .232 

Colleagues in the Senate — Thurman, the sturdy oak of De- 
mocracy — Schurz and Sherman — Windom as Senator and Sec- 
retary of the Treasury — Blaine's friendship — Bayard's esteem — 
Qualities in common with Allison — Vice-Presidents Wheeler 
and Hendricks — Benjamin Harrison's personality — Porfirio 
Diaz and Mexico — A page from contemporary history — The 
Cuban War — W. W. Corcoran, the philanthropist — Andrew 
Carnegie — Railway men and events — The great strike of 1877 — 
John W. Garrett as a board of directors — Annual dinners to 
railway presidents — Estimate of George B. Roberts and A. J. 
Cassatt — George F. Baer — Presentation of urn to Mr, Davis — 
Daniel Willard and the younger generation of contemporaries 



Chapter XVII 

A SHEAF OF LETTERS 248 

Gleanings from many contemporaries — Political history un- 
folded in correspondence — Senator Thurman's expectations in 
the famous Ohio campaign of 1875 — George H. Pendleton on 
factional politics — Many communications from William Win- 
dom — Hopes and fears in the tragedy of Garfield's life — Com- 
ment from Paris on parties and candidates in 1884 — European 
travel — Indignation over Blaine caricatures — Lines from Sam- 
uel J. Randall and AnErnstus H. Garland — West Virginia cor- 
respondents — Appreciation from the two Goffs — W. L. Wilson's 
ambition 



X CONTENTS 

Chapter XVIII page 

MORE LETTERS 261 

Benjamin Harrison's request for advice on investments — 
Grover Cleveland's explanation of a misunderstanding — Sena- 
tor Gorman on prospects and results in 1904 — Thomas F. Bay- 
ard's illuminating correspondence — Spoils system responsible 
for Garfield's assassination — Views on his own campaign for 
the nomination in 1884 — Tilden and the rise of the literary 
bureau— Maintenance of principles— Manly comment on the 
Chicago Convention — Abhorrence of Benjamin F. Butler's labor 
movement — Tribute to Mr. Davis's work in developing West 
Virginia's resources — The last letter — Some piquant notes from 
Andrew Carnegie 

Chapter XIX 

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 275 

Mr. Davis's journal as an illustration of his character — Inti- 
mate record of half a century — The observant traveler at 
home and abroad — European trip — Shrewd reflections on the 
Southern States — Mexico and California — Personal thrift and 
business liberality — Passion for order and detail — Faculty of 
concentration — Making a bargain — High standard of integrity 
— Dislike of speculation — In all things an individualist — Aus- 
tere home life mellowed — Favorite documents of American his- 
tory — Fondness for biography — Material for speeches — Na- 
ture's physical endowment — Horseback rider at ninety — Capac- 
ity for sleep — Religious convictions 

Chapter XX 
THE CLOSING YEARS 292 

Tranquil activities of Mr. Davis to the end—Slowing up in 
business affairs not marked — Fraternal associations — Memories 
of the Order of Odd Fellows — The commemorative jewel — No 
Ciceronian reflections on Old Age — Reforesting the wilderness 
for future generations — Anecdotes of contemporaries—Health 
strategy — Comment on public affairs — Anniversary tributes to 
his life and works — At ninety-two — Last summer at Elkins — 
Meditations for the Railway Builder — Winter in Washington — 
Journal entries — Illness and death — Retrospect of a long life 

INDEX * :r r • •« ■•! w :• w w r* « »j > w w • 3^ 



J 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Henry Gassaway Davis Frontispiece 

TACINa 
PAGE 

Reproduction of daguerreotype of Mr. Davis and his 

mother i6 

Reproduction of daguerreotype of Kate Bantz Davis . . 32 

Finance Committee of West Virginia Legislature ... 48 

Henry Gassaway Davis in 1868 56 

Scene on West Virginia Central Railway 72 

Finance Committee of West Virginia Central Railway . 104 

U. S. Delegation to Pan-American Conference at Mexico 120 

Colonel Thomas B. Davis 152 

Railway train in the mountain region — Point Lookout . 184 

Davis Child's Shelter at Charleston 200 

Davis Memorial Church at Elkins 232 

Davis Memorial Hospital at Elkins 232 

The Tygart River at Elkins 248 

Memorial Church at Gassaway 260 

Graceland, Mr. Davis's home at Elkins 272 

Mr. Davis on horseback , . 288 



THE LIFE AND TIMES 

OF 

HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 



THE LIFE AND TIMES 

OF 

HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 



CHAPTER I 

ANCESTRY AND YOUTH 

Leaves from Maryland's colonial history — Two ancient wor- 
thies — The Davises and the Browns — Memories of Goodfellow- 
ship estate — Parents of Henry Gassaway Davis — Baltimore at the 
time of his birth — The child who saw Charles Carroll lay the cor- 
ner-stone of the first railway — Epochal events — Baltimore and 
Ohio's test of Peter Cooper's engine — Effect of family reverses 
on a care-free lad — Earning money at the stone quarry — Planta- 
tion steward for Governor Howard — Beginning of his railroad 
career. 

MARYLAND'S early history is principally a rec- 
ord of the Calverts, Lord Barons of Baltimore, 
and the families that settled in their Prov- 
ince. On the Rent Rolls of the several Lord Barons 
of Baltimore appear the names of the forbears of the 
Davises and the Browns, to be followed later by those 
identical names. These families and their descendants 
bore their part in the transition of the Province from a 
semi-feudal proprietary possession to a democratic col- 
ony. The Davises were of Welsh extraction; the 
Browns were of Scotch-Irish blood. Two ancient 
worthies figure in the family records. One was Colonel 
Nicholas Greenberry, with whom the Davises were kin ; 

3 



4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the other was Colonel Nicholas Gassaway, a progenitor 
of the Browns. 

Colonel Nicholas Greenberry was Deputy Governor 
of the Province in 1692, and from the documentary his- 
tory of that period he appears to have filled various posi- 
tions of responsibility, for the list of the official titles he 
bore is a long one. From one document is disclosed that, 
Henry Jowles, Esquire, "Chiefe Judge in Chancery," 
etc., being afflicted with gout and other indispositions of 
body, and unable to attend to the duties of his office, 
Colonel Nicholas Greenberry was one of three persons 
assigned to sit as Judge in Chancery pending this indis- 
position of the Chiefe Judge. 

The Great Seal of William and Mary, under date of 
March 2, 1695, attests this appointment. Colonel 
Greenberry performed various other functions, and, in 
the troublous times which vexed the Lord Baltimore of 
that day, his name is frequently mentioned, sometimes as 
a supporter of the Lord Baron, and sometimes as a 
leader of the popular element. 

Colonel Nicholas Gassaway arrived in the Province 
about 1650, and at once began to take an active part 
in its affairs. He was a Captain in the Indian Wars, 
later with the rank of Major, a Commissioner of Peace, 
Member of the Quorum, and in 1690 a member of the 
Committee of Twenty which was formed to govern 
Maryland. Captain Thomas Gassaway, his son, was 
High Sheriff of Anne Arundel County from 171 1 to 
1714 ; and a son of this Gassaway, John by name, appears 
in 1740 as one of the principal gentlemen belonging to 
the Ancient South River Club, ''conveying for and in 
consideration of the sum of Eighty Pounds" a half acre 
of land on which the club-house was erected. 

Colonel Nicholas Gassaway, the father of John, died 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 5 

in 1730. The minutes of the club meeting held on Feb- 
ruary 14, 1750, show that Henry Gassaway was chair- 
man. Three years later the minutes disclose that by 
resolution Mr. John Gassaway was directed to provide 
a large punch-bowl; so it is clear that the Gassaways 
continued to be among the leading gentlemen of the 
Club. 

In the direct line Henry Gassaway Davis was de- 
scended from Thomas Davis, a gentleman of the City 
of London, of an ancient Welsh family that had settled 
in Shropshire. Thomas Davis arrived in Maryland late 
in 1688, as a factor for several large mercantile estab- 
lishments in London. He had a son Robert, who had a 
son Eli, and Eli had a son John, who was married to 
Sarah Randall. An only son was born of this union, 
Caleb Davis. Nathan Randall, the brother of Sarah, 
was a large landowner, and in his will he made his sis- 
ter's son the sole heir to a tract of land known as Good- 
fellowship, some two hundred and fifty acres in extent, 
as recorded in the deed. 

This land appears to have been from time to time a 
common possession on both sides of the family, probably 
due to intermarriage between the Davises and the 
Browns. It is certain that the Browns were large land- 
owners, and a considerable tract was patented to them 
early in the seventeenth century. This patent extended 
over a considerable section of the hills and valleys that 
afterward came to be known as Anne Arundel County. 
Some of it was included in the purchases of Thomas 
Browne (the family had not then dropped the final 
vowel), who must have been a landowner with a sense 
of humor, since the several tracts patented to him are in- 
dicated as Browne's Folly, Browne's Chance, Browne's 
Adventure, and Browne's Increase. The name of 



6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Joshua Brown is entered in the Debt Book of Anne 
Arundel County from 1750 to 1756 as paying Lord 
Baltimore quit-rent on one hundred acres of the Good- 
fellowship tract. Later it appears from the records that 
John Riggs Brown was the owner of this part of Good- 
fellowship. 

John Riggs Brown was born in October, 1775, the 
second son of the Revolutionary patriot, Captain Samuel 
Brown. In December, 1799, he was wedded to Sarah 
Gassaway, the daughter of Brice J. Gassaway and Kath- 
erine Warfield. Brice J. Gassaway was the son of Nich- 
olas Gassaway and a brother of Captain John Henry 
Gassaway and of Lieutenant Nicholas Gassaway, offi- 
cers of the Maryland Line, and direct descendants of the 
original Colonel Nicholas Gassaway. 

The Browns occupied and cultivated Goodfellowship. 
On a gentle eminence sloping down into the glades, a 
rectangular stone house had been built some time after 
1650. There were the outbuildings of the complete 
plantation, the granary, the milk-house, the barns, which 
went to make up the estate of a landed proprietor of 
those days. Part of the stone house still stands, though 
later occupants covered it with concrete and enlarged it 
by a frame addition. The old chimney is there, and the 
mantelpiece and a few other reminders of the solid 
house furnishings of olden days. The milk-house re- 
mains. The granary, transformed in the course of cen- 
turies into a big barn, stood until 1918, when it was torn 
down to make room for a building better suited to the 
needs of modern farming. 

The issue of the marriage of John Riggs Brown and 
Sarah Gassaway was a large family, principally girls. 
At Goodfellowship, on the tenth day of March, 1799, 
was born Louisa Warfield Brown, the mother of Henry 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 7 

G. Davis. There also was born her sister, Elizabeth A. 
Brown, the mother of Arthur P. Gorman. 

Caleb Davis was born near Baltimore in March, 1792, 
the only son of John Davis, also an only son, and of 
Sarah Randall. He was early left an orphan, and was 
given a home by an aunt. When the British expedition 
of Lord Ross sailed up the Potomac and destroyed the 
Capitol at Washington, Caleb Davis was one of those 
who volunteered for the defense of Baltimore, and he 
served during the remainder of the War of 1812. 

In April, 181 5, Caleb Davis married Sarah Rowles, 
who died in 1819, leaving him one son, Nathan R. Davis, 
who died in boyhood. Caleb Davis did not long remain 
widowed. The family Bible records that he was mar- 
ried to Louisa Warfield Brown on the ninth day of 
March, 1819, by the Reverend Mr. Linthecomb. Of 
this union six children were born, John B., Elizabeth, 
Henry Gassaway, Eliza Ann, Thomas B., and Williami 
R. The child that was named Henry Gassaway was 
born in Baltimore on November 16, 1823. 

Caleb Davis, at this time, was an enterprising and 
adventurous young merchant, living part of the time 
in Baltimore and part of the time in Anne Arundel 
County at the little settlement among the hills that was 
known as Woodstock. C Keenan's Baltimore City Di- 
rectory for 1822 and 1823 designates him as "Caleb 
Davis, grocery and feed store, 283 Western Row, Balti- 
more Street, d. w., Paca, W. side S. of Baltimore." 
Later entries up to 1827 add to his lines of business, but 
apparently he remained in the same neighborhood. It 
was from near there that Barnes and Williamson's 
stages left five times daily for Washington. 

Baltimore at this time was the third city in the Union 
and had sixty-five thousand inhabitants. It was a port 



8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of varied nationalities and vied with New York in the 
number of its great merchants. Foreign governments 
maintained consuls there, and the Patapsco was filled 
with the ships of many countries. But it was still a city 
in the making, with little outward evidence of the mag- 
nificent metropolis it was to become. When Lafayette 
visited it in 1824, the year following the birth of Henry 
G. Davis, the Washington Monument, which was to 
give it the name of the Monumental City, was ofif in 
Howard's Woods, still surrounded by scaffolding. 

John H. B. Latrobe, who was identified with the his- 
tory of Baltimore for more than half a century, said 
that on the left from the Fort to Federal Hill the only 
building was the town powder-house, while on the right 
it was no better. Far off in the distance, where the 
Philadelphia turnpike crossed Loudenslager Hill, there 
were some houses. Beyond the Fort and within the 
harbor proper, were the pungies, or small boats used 
for the transport of wheat, oysters, and wood. 

This was the actual view; but the Baltimore mer- 
chants, and even the politicians of that day, had visions 
of the commerce of the future which its situation on the 
Chesapeake assured it. Yet they had become disquieted 
because of signs that this commerce might be lost to 
them. The cause of their uneasiness was the building 
of the Erie Canal. It was feared, and with reason, that 
this waterway would divert to New York the trade from 
over the mountains which the city had previously held. 
Another artificial waterway to serve the interests of 
Baltimore was the natural thought, and this thought bore 
fruition in the project of the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Canal. 

There were men in Baltimore at that day who, while 
not doubting the Canal project, believed that better 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 9 

means could be developed for holding the traffic of the 
great West. They had heard of George Stephenson's 
engine, and some of them, the Thomases among others, 
had even gone so far as to have Evan Thomas visit Eng- 
land and examine the Manchester Railway in operation. 
A railroad to the Western waters thereafter became the 
leading idea of P. E. Thomas, and with his associates 
he mapped out a great national route to the Mississippi 
which would not only serve to fetch the coal from the 
mountains to the sea, but also would transport the agri- 
cultural products from beyond the Ohio to the Chesa- 
peake Bay section of the Atlantic coast. 

The Baltimore and Ohio Company was the first char- 
tered and fully organized company in the United States 
for the construction of an extended line of railroad. It 
was distinctively a Baltimore enterprise. Its early diffi- 
culties and the resourcefulness of the men who projected 
and carried it through — even to their extravagance, as 
it was then considered, in offering Louis McLane a sal- 
ary of four thousand dollars to tempt him from the 
presidency of a New York bank to assume the responsi- 
bilities of the railway — are part of the history of the de- 
velopment of the country through transportation enter- 
prise. They are referred to here because they concern 
the subject of this biography; for, as a child, Henry Gass- 
away Davis lived in the midst of those epochal events. 

On July 4, 1828, Caleb Davis took his entire family 
to witness a great event. All the substantial citizens of 
Baltimore were there with their families, and the unsub- 
stantial ones also. This event was the laying of the 
"first stone," the corner-stone, of what came to be his- 
toric Camden Station, at the southwest line of the city, 
for the new railway project, and the address by the sur- 
viving signer of the Declaration of Independence, 



lo THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton. *'I consider this," said 
the venerable signer, "among the most important acts 
of my life, second only to my signing the Declaration of 
Independence, if even it be second to that." 

A child of five years was held on his father's shoulder 
while this memorable address was made. Probably 
there were many other children of the same age who 
were held in the same way, but this one lived to recall 
it after more than eighty years. As he recited the cir- 
cumstance, the impress left on his mind was that of "a 
big crowd of people and a very old man making a 
speech"; but the recollection was distinct, and the child, 
Henry G. Davis, always had a good memory for faces 
and places. 

Caleb Davis, as a venturesome merchant alive to new 
opportunities, saw what the building of the railway 
would mean to the Western Shore through which it was 
to pass. The line was to run along the narrow valley 
of the Patapsco to Ellicott Mills, and then, following 
the course of the river, through Anne Arundel County 
and beyond to Frederick. This would mean increase in 
land values and contracts for enterprising men. He 
moved his family back to the farm, and began to put 
up houses and to develop some small factories. 

The laying of the first stone of the railway line was 
truly an epochal event, but Henry G. Davis, a child of 
five, was not likely to appreciate its eventfulness, al- 
though it was to have much to do with his career. An- 
other epochal event about which he heard his elders talk, 
and concerning which he preserved some recollections, 
was the test of motive power. When the Baltimore and 
Ohio project was undertaken, the feasibility of steam, or 
rather its superiority to animal power, had not been 
fully tested. The line, or rather a double line, was built 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS ii 

to Relay, and from there on to ElHcott Mills, which was 
fourteen miles from Baltimore City. When the first 
division was opened in 1830, horse and mule power were 
employed. Evan Thomas built a car rigged with sails, 
which was fittingly called the "Eolus," and this was 
tested and declared to be a success on windy days, but 
it hardly could be considered seriously as permanent mo- 
tive power. 

There was to be a real test between steam power and 
animal power. Peter Cooper, afterward to become 
known for his business success and his great philan- 
thropies, had devised an engine which he was confident 
would solve the problems of the curves and grades that 
made the engines employed on the Liverpool and Man- 
chester Railroad unsuitable for use in the United States. 
He was a stockholder in the railroad company, and that 
may have had something to do with the readiness of the 
directors to let him try his Httle boiler and engine. In 
the summer of 1830 he made a trial trip from Baltimore 
to Ellicott Mills and back at a speed of fifteen miles an 
hour, and the first journey by steam in America was de- 
clared to be a success. 

Yet even then the old fogies did not yield readily. 
The stage proprietors asked for a test, and they were 
given it on the parallel tracks. A car drawn by a pow- 
erful gray horse, and another propelled by the little 
steam engine, started simultaneously. Eor a while 
steam seemed to be winning ; but an accident to the band 
that drove the pulley of the steam engine put it out 
of use, and the horse got into Baltimore first, to the de- 
light of the stage owners and the chagrin of the cham- 
pions of steam power. 

But the feasibility of steam had been demonstrated, 
and Peter Cooper's boiler and engine were accepted by 



12 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the Baltimore and Ohio managers as the basic idea for 
motive power on the railway that was to surmount the 
Alleghanies. They developed his ideas with their own 
mechanics and engineers, and thereafter the physical 
progress of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway was steady 
and uniform, although attended with many difficulties 
and taxing the energies of the resourceful men who were 
at the head of the enterprise. In the meantime, Ross 
Winans was giving the road the benefit of his inventions, 
and at the same time gaining the experience which 
caused the Czar of Russia to intrust to him the construc- 
tion of the Russian railways. 

It was not within the recollection of Henry G. Davis 
in his later years that these portentous developments 
made a deep impression on his mind. He was a care- 
free lad, with a love for out-of-doors and a real liking 
for farming, which was the principal industry of this 
agricultural region, although the water-power of the 
Patapsco provided for the flour mills at Ellicott, and 
also for cotton and woolen mills. With other boys of 
his own age he roamed the forest and fished in the 
creeks. 

One of his boyhood friends was John Hambleton, 
who lived across the Patapsco in Baltimore County, and 
who afterward became the head of the banking firm that 
bore his name, and a director in the railways built by 
Henry G. Davis. 'Possum hunts with young Hamble- 
ton were among the boyhood sports which he was wont 
to recall. There was also Beale Cavey, a farmer's 
boy with whom he played and worked in the fields to 
earn a little money. Many years afterward, whenever 
Mr. Davis returned to Goodfellowship, he would hunt 
up Beale Cavey; and after he had gone, the old man 
would tell how they had worked at planting corn in or- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 13 

der to obtain spending money, a quarter of a dollar rep- 
resenting the maximum of their expectations. 

All this time Caleb Davis was prospering, or seemed 
to be prospering; for his family lived in comfort, if not 
in luxury, and had all that their wealthy neighbors had. 
They lived in the lavish manner of the times — the family 
carriage with outrider, ponies for the boys, and gener- 
ous hospitality. But the conditions were not so favor- 
able as they seemed. The effort of Caleb Davis to build 
a little town was not a financial success. Like other 
enterprising men of the day, among whom was Peter 
Gorman, the father of Arthur Pue Gorman, he had taken 
contracts for grading sections of the Baltimore" and 
Ohio Railway, which was pushing the line on to Fred- 
erick. Some of those contractors made money; others 
lost. Among the latter was Caleb Davis, who also had 
gone on the bonds of some of his fellow contractors. 
The shadows that lengthened into the panic of 1837 were 
already stretching across the country, and the region 
in which the greatest enterprise had been shown, due 
to the railway construction, was the first to feel the 
gathering financial gloom. Caleb Davis found that he 
had undertaken too much. He might have maintained 
himself alone, but those for whom he had indorsed went 
to wreck and the whole burden was thrown on him. 

When the crash came it was complete. All of Caleb 
Davis's property was sold to meet his debts. Thomas, 
the younger brother of Henry, used to recount how the 
calamity afifected their childhood. His recollection was 
of the sale of the ponies to the neighborhood butcher, 
and of the anguish caused him by the butcher boy rid- 
ing by on his pony and making faces at him. Henry 
took the loss of his pony with the stoicism befitting an 
elder brother. 



14 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The business failure was rendered more acute by the 
mental infirmity that overtook Caleb Davis. He was 
not only left incapable of affording any means of sup 
port for the family, but himself became an object of 
care. In these distressing circumstances the Scotch- 
Irish will power and mental force of his wife showed 
itself. There were four sons and a daughter to care 
for and to bring up in a way that would be worthy of 
their race and name. Mrs. Davis did not shrink from 
the task before her. Her little household was at once 
remodeled. She herself opened a school for girls, or, 
as it was called in those days, a seminary for young 
ladies. She also contributed by her own physical labor 
to the maintenance of the household, and even found 
time to teach the growing children. 

Henry G. Davis was then In his fourteenth year. 
There were no free schools in Maryland In those days, 
and It had not been considered necessary to provide for 
his systematic instruction. Supplementing the home 
teaching, he had received perhaps a year's actual school- 
ing. He had not been known as a studious lad, and 
possibly the prospect of breaking oft" his education did 
not then look to him as it looked in later years, when he 
was overcoming the disadvantages of his lack of earlier 
facilities. Whatever the boy's feeling, there was no 
remedy. His great love for his mother and his natural 
Inclination to do his part in supporting the family caused 
him to seek employment. 

Matthew G. Emery, a New Englander, was at that 
time working one of the Woodstock quarries. Years 
afterward he became a leading capitalist of Washing- 
ton and mayor of the capital city while Lincoln was 
President. When Henry G. Davis had become a 
United States Senator and a railway builder, Emery 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 15 

told the circumstances of the boy's first employment. 
One day a husky lad came to him and asked for work. 
There was need of a water-boy to supply the men. 
Emery at once put him on the job. Before the day had 
passed he noticed the willingness and the alertness of 
the lad, who was everywhere when needed, anticipating 
the thirsty men in their call for water. This was the 
characteristic that years afterward found expression 
in his various business enterprises. This employment 
lasted for some time. Three quarters of a century after- 
ward Mr. Davis spoke of it reminiscently as the first 
money he had earned. 

When there was no more work in the quarry he taok 
odd jobs on neighboring farms. One of the beautiful 
estates on the Western Shore is known as Waverly. It 
is not far from Goodfellowship. In the '30's it was 
one of the finest plantations in all the region, not even 
second to Carroll's Manor, on which it bordered. The 
proprietor, to whom it had descended from colonial 
times, was former Governor Howard, after whom the 
county that in 185 1 was carved out of Anne Arundel 
was named. 

Governor Howard knew the Davises, and he knew 
the Browns better. They had been neighbors for a 
long time. He sympathized with the misfortunes that 
had overtaken the family. One day he reined his horse 
in front of the cottage in which they were living, and 
said to the mother: "Let Henry come with me. I 
want a good boy on my place and I know he will suit 
me." 

Young Davis therefore went to Waverly to live. His 
duties were steadily extended until he was virtually 
superintendent of the plantation. Three times each 
week he rode into Baltimore with the garden truck that 



i6 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 

found its market there. He doled out the stores for the 
slaves, and he had a steward's responsibility for the 
accounts, while he also had much to do with the actual 
farm cultivation. The change in the family circum- 
stances, while hurtful to his pride, never caused him to 
lose his self-respect ; but there were some of his former 
companions that bore historic names who chose to take 
note of it in boyish ways. Where formerly there had 
been free intercourse, the young steward was now given 
a cool nod of recognition. Long years afterward the 
bearer of one of those historic names came to Senator 
Henry G. Davis to ask his aid in securing some humble 
government employment. Family reverses in middle 
age had done for him what they had done for Davis in 
boyhood. A place was found for him by his boyhood 
companion. 

In his position with Governor Howard the young 
steward was able to contribute substantially to the sup- 
port of his mother and the younger children, and even 
to save something for himself, although the amount 
could not have been large. He continued as superin- 
tendent at Waverly until his twentieth year. Then 
came the change that was to mold his whole future and 
open to him the gates of opportunity. This change was 
what, in these days, is succinctly called "railroading." 




Reproduction of daguerreotype of Mr. Davis and his mother 



CHAPTER II 

PIONEER RAILWAY DAYS 

A brakeman on the Baltimore and Ohio — Crude methods of 
early days — Reasons for Davis's promotion — Washington in the 
'40's — Famous passengers — Henry Clay's friendship — The con- 
ductor's courtship and marriage — Duties as station agent at Pied- 
mont — Crossing the crest of the Alleghanies — Leaving the rail- 
road service for business — General merchandising — Coal and lum- 
ber enterprises — Establishing a bank — Civil War conditions — 
Supplies for the railway under difficulties — Contractor Davis's 
interview with Lincoln — Extensive land purchases after the war. 

RAILWAY building in the second quarter of the 
nineteenth century was a pioneer chapter in 
national development. Naturally, the incidents 
connected with it affected the local communities through 
which the Baltimore and Ohio line passed. It also 
opened opportunities for employment, although the mod- 
est scale on which the construction was carried forward 
did not call for a large number of men. And there were 
even doubters and those who preferred to stay en the 
farm or in other employments. Railway operation in 
itself was crude. 

It was not possible that Henry G. Davis, living in the 
district through which the Baltimore and Ohio was 
pushing its lines, should belong to the class that saw no 
future in railway work. The Washington branch of 
the railroad was opened in midsummer of 1835. The 
line to Frederick had been opened nearly four years 
earlier, and in the boyhood of young Davis it was push- 

17 



i8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ing on toward Cumberland and the Alleghanies. The 
greater part of the traffic was over the Frederick Hne, 
which passed near to Waverly and Goodf ellowship. 

From this circumstance the young steward of Gov- 
ernor Howard's plantation came to know the men who 
managed the railway. One of these was Dr. Woodside, 
the superintendent, who was a friend of the Davis fam- 
ily. When the railway reached Cumberland there was 
a demand for more men, and Dr. Woodside, who had 
noted young Davis's interest, offered him a place as 
brakeman. This was in 1842, when he was in his twen- 
tieth year. 

In the early '40's a brakeman was a person of marked 
responsibility in the operation of a railway. There 
were no automatic couplings, no air-brakes, no system 
of telegraph signals. Physical strength and mental 
judgment were prime qualifications for the brakeman. 
Young Davis had both. He was six feet tall, all muscle 
and bone, and weighed probably one hundred and sev- 
enty-five pounds. He had an iron grip. In the col- 
loquial railway language of the day, the "armstrong" 
brakeman was the essential thing, since the train had to 
be stopped by forcing the frictional shoes against the 
wheels by sheer manual power. Many years afterward, 
when he was a railway president, Mr. Davis was wont 
. to recall some of the incidents of this early railroading 
experience. 

"We coupled our freight-cars with bars about eighteen 
inches long, wrought with a hole in each end," he said. 
"These were held by bolts, one dropping down through 
the bumper of each car. Passenger-cars were coupled 
with bars of similar shape, but made of wood and hav- 
ing iron ends. The wood was used so that in case one 
car should overturn the coupling would snap and leave 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 19 

the other cars upon the track. The Baltimore and Ohio 
track in those days was built by first laying end to end 
stone sills about as far apart as the gage of the rails. 
Over the sills were laid cross-ties, and on top of these, 
parallel to the sills, there were laid lengthwise pieces of 
yellow pine six inches wide and of about the same thick- 
ness, which held the rails. These were flat strips of 
iron about an inch thick and two and a half inches wide. 
There were no means of communicating with the train 
after it started on its run. Everything had to be done 
by the arbitrary schedule of instructions, and this was a 
pretty tedious business. It took all day to go a dis- 
tance that afterward only required three or four hours." 
When young Davis became a brakeman the daily 
traffic requirements of the railroad were adequately sup- 
plied by three freight trains. These were run in sec- 
tions a few minutes apart — and rear-end collisions were 
ordinary incidents of railway operation. One day the 
usual rear-end collision caused a very bad wreck. 
While it was being cleared away a passenger train drew 
up. Here is the rest of the story as it was told by 
Thomas Swann, who was then president of the com- 
pany: 

"Before I took young Davis from the freights, one of our di- 
rectors had been on a train that was brought to a halt by a wreck 
on the line between Baltimore and Frederick. He came to me and 
commended the energy and intelhgence shown by a young man in 
removing the obstructions. Everyone on the train, he said, 
seemed to look to him for direction in clearing away the wreck. 
I thought that this would be a good man with whom to begin the 
experiment of promotion from the ranks, so I sent for him." 

When young Davis appeared in President Swann's 
office he made a very favorable impression, although, as 
he afterward stated, he was sornewhat overawed. 



20 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Years later the two men were to meet in public life under 
conditions somewhat reversed, the younger as a Senator 
and the elder as a Representative in Congress. The 
promotion, though not sought, was agreeable to young 
Davis, and while he continued to be associated with the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, both as an employee and 
a contractor, he enjoyed the good will of President 
Swann. 

While serving as conductor of the freight train, he 
had a wider field for his qualities of initiative. He 
showed them in many ways, and it was not long before 
he had become supervisor of the road between Balti- 
more and Cumberland, a position somewhat similar to 
division superintendent of the present day. At that 
period no one had thought of running night trains, or 
else no one had been willing to attempt the hazardous 
experiment, although there was much loss of time in 
the schedule through laying them up from dark to day- 
light. Davis suggested to his superiors that the trains 
could be run during the night as well as during the 
day. He was given the authority to make the experi- 
ment, with what misgivings was known only to the offi- 
cials themselves. 

Supervisor Davis had made his plans, and he did not 
intrust carrying them out to anyone else. The first 
night train was to be run from Cumberland to Balti- 
more. A curious crowd, which included the skeptics 
and the scoffers, gathered at Cumberland when it was 
to start. The comment was not encouraging. One man 
was especially anxious lest harm come to the train crew. 
"You may run into a cow and throw the train," he 
said. It is not certain that Supervisor Davis knew of 
George Stephenson's experience with the parliamentary 
committee which asked him what would happen if his 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 21 

train should run into a cow, and received the reply that 
it would be a bad thing for the cow, but a similar answer 
on his part would have been natural under the circum- 
stances. A more serious suggestion was that the en- 
gineer would not be able to see far enough ahead to 
keep from running against stones that rolled down from 
the mountains, for this was not an uncommon incident. 

The train moved off in charge of young Davis, despite 
the misgivings of the crowd. Frequently it would be 
stopped or would proceed at a snail's pace, while a 
brakeman walked ahead with a lantern ; but, in spite of 
the obstacles that were met, it reached its destination 
in safety. Supervisor Davis had solved the problem of 
running trains at night, removing what was then thought 
to be an important obstacle in railroading. So far as 
the chronicles of railway operation disclose, he was the 
first man to run night trains. 

Mr. Davis served as a passenger as well as a freight 
conductor. This gave him the opportunity of meeting 
many noted public men both in Washington and on the 
line. He was accustomed to stay over in Washington, 
and in later years would recall some of the incidents of 
that period, particularly during Polk's administration. 
The national capital was then a muddy village, with 
Pennsylvania Avenue as the main thoroughfare, and 
with a few hotels and boarding-houses, where the ma- 
jority of the Congressmen lived, at the foot of the Capi- 
tol. On the south side of the Avenue, farther up to- 
ward the White House, between Twelfth and Thirteenth 
streets, the only building was a two-story brick known 
as Hancock's. This was the place that for three quar- 
ters of a century was celebrated for the excellent food 
and a certain punch that could be had there. 

Teetotalers were very rare among public men in those 



22 .THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

days, and Mr. Davis sometimes told the story of seeing 
Daniel Webster at Hancock's partaking of the famous 
punch. On the following day he was one of those who 
were fortunate enough to shoulder his way into the 
Senate chamber to hear the great debate that was then 
going on, with Clay, Calhoun, and Webster as the giant 
figures. It was on the series of measures known as 
**Clay's Compromise." The speech that Davis heard 
Webster make was the one in which the great expounder 
of the Constitution denounced the abolitionists and de- 
fended the fugitive slave law. It was this address that 
estranged his New England supporters and clouded the 
remainder of his public life. Mr. Davis's recollection 
of it was simply that it was a great speech and made a 
profound impression on those who heard it. 

Travel on the railway by public men gave young Davis 
an opportunity to meet some of those who came from 
the South and West. They would journey over the 
Alleghanies in the stage to Cumberland, and there take 
the train for Washington; or they would travel from 
Washington to Cumberland, and take the stage return- 
ing home. One of these famous passengers was Gen- 
eral Sam Houston, who, after the liberation of Texas 
from Mexico, served as President of the new republic, 
and when it became a State was sent to Washington as 
one of its Senators. He was a picturesque passenger, 
kindly in his intercourse, but not very talkative, accord- 
ing to the recollections of the young conductor. 

Henry Clay was another famous passenger. Davis 
came under the sway of Clay's magnetic nature as did 
a very large element of young America. Clay was al- 
ways amiable, and liked to talk with the conductor. 
When it was known that he was on a train, the people 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 23 

at the different stations would gather and ask for a 
speech. Clay usually was ready to gratify them, and 
the conductor saw to it that time was afforded for him 
to talk to the people. In recalling these addresses, Mr. 
Davis, who during his long life heard almost every 
great orator in the United States, some of whom were 
his colleagues in the Senate, was wont to declare that 
not one of them approached Clay in the mellowness of 
voice, the charm of manner, and the persuasiveness ex- 
hibited by him in these way-station talks. 

During one of Clay's trips. Conductor Davis was wit- 
ness of an incident that affected the Great Commoner 
beyond the power of speech. At Harper's Ferry, when 
the train was making its usual stop, it became known 
that Clay was on board, and the people came to the sta- 
tion and asked him to address them. He was about to 
begin when a man in the crowd, pushing himself for- 
ward, called out : "Mr. Clay, I want to tell you some- 
thing about your boy Henry. He died in my arms." 

The man had been a soldier in the Mexican war, in 
which Clay's son had been fatally wounded at the storm- 
ing of Chapultepec. 

The appearance of this comrade of his son, and the 
word he gave, was too much for Clay. He threw up 
his hands, reeled, cried out, "My God !" and as he sank 
into a seat beckoned the man to him. The crowd fell 
back in silent sympathy while Mr. Clay heard from a 
comrade the story of his son's death. 

The magnetism of the Great Commoner cast its spell 
over the train conductor, who became one of his earnest 
political supporters. During a brief vacation one sea- 
son, Davis went to Wheeling, and then took the packet 
down the Ohio River and visited Clay at Ashland. Re- 



24 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

turning, he became an active lieutenant of the Kentuck- 
ian; but this fact did not interfere with his railway 
activities. 

Ten years' experience of this kind made Davis a prac- 
tical railway man of the best type. He knew every 
mile of the line from Baltimore and Washington to 
Cumberland. He was popular in the communities 
through which the railroad ran, and that was in itself 
an asset for the company. He was liked by the train 
crews, out of whom, it was said at the time, he could 
get twice as much work as any other superintendent. 
He was an enthusiast on the resources of the country 
which the Baltimore and Ohio traversed, even more so 
than some of the higher officials, who did not possess his 
detailed knowledge of lands and timber and coal and 
all that goes to make railway traffic. 

His worldly circumstances in this ten years had ma- 
terially improved, but at no time was his salary large. 
As a freight brakeman his wages were thirty dollars a 
month. Later they were advanced to forty dollars, and 
then, when he became a conductor, to sixty dollars. He 
received as supervisor one hundred dollars per month. 
It is a trite truth that in the middle of the nineteenth 
century a dollar went much farther and represented 
much more than in later years ; but, with full allowance 
for this higher value, the pay of one hundred dollars a 
month for the supervisor of the railway on its princi- 
pal division could not be considered extravagant. It 
was in proportion, however, to the salaries of the higher 
officials, which were modest. Out of his pay Davis 
continued to contribute to the support of his mother 
and the family. He also saved something, for the prin- 
ciple of thrift was inherent with him, and was the foun- 
dation of his success in business. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 25 

Toward the close of this ten-year period of active 
railroading there was another event which exercised a 
deep influence on his life. Frederick was an important 
point on the railway, and all the Baltimore and Ohio 
men from time to time made it their headquarters. It 
was then, as it is now, the center of a very prosperous 
agricultural community. One of the leading merchants 
of the town was Gideon Bantz, who was also a Judge 
of the Orphan's Court, and was familiarly known as 
Judge Bantz. The Bantz family was one of the most 
substantial ones in all the region. There was a daugh- 
ter, Katharine. 

The handsome young railroader, Davis, met her, 
courted her, and won her. The romance was complete, 
but there were some parental objections, possibly on the 
score of family pride, since railroading was not then 
looked on as the path to social distinction. An obsta- 
cle of this kind meant nothing to the energetic spirit of 
Railroader Davis. He soon won the family to his suit, 
and in consequence in February, 1853, Henry Gassaway 
Davis and Katharine Anne Bantz were married at Fred- 
erick, and a life companionship began which lasted 
nearly fifty years. 

Happily married, Davis began to plan more definitely 
for the future and to seek a wider field than was offered 
him as supervisor of railway operations. He was then 
in his thirtieth year, at the apex of vigorous young man- 
hood, and already displayed evidence of the qualities of 
industrial leadership which later matured. It happened 
that his desire for a wider field corresponded with the 
plans of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway directors. 

After frequent checks by the Virginia Legislature, 
some of them of a political nature and some of a sectional 
character, and after harrowing financial experiences, the 



26 THE LIFE AND TIMES OE 

main trunk of the railway had reached the Ohio River 
at WheeHng. In reaching the Ohio it had surmounted 
the crest of the Alleghanies, but there were still operat- 
ing difficulties to be overcome in climbing to the summit. 
The climb was begun at Piedmont on the upper Potomac, 
where heavy, powerful locomotives were substituted for 
the light engines, and reached the crest at Tierra Alta. 
Piedmont, therefore, became a very important central 
station on the railway, since the motive power necessary 
to surmount the great summit dividing the eastern and 
western waters which took their source in the Alle- 
ghanies had to be operated from that point. The com- 
pany had built what was described as a "large and hand- 
some engine house of circular form, its walls of brick 
and the roof of iron, housing sixteen engines, at a cost 
of twelve thousand dollars." 

It was Mr. Davis's wish to locate at Piedmont in order 
to take advantage of the opportunities which he saw 
would come from the development of the timber and coal 
resources of this region. It was the wish of the Balti- 
more and Ohio directors to have the right kind of man 
there. So they made Davis station agent. But his 
duties as station agent were in reality more those of a 
division superintendent, since the responsibility was 
placed on him of sending the trains up and across the 
Divide, designating the engineers and the train crews, 
and adjusting their labor. It is part of the record of 
economical and tactful railway management that the 
claim of the train crews that a trip up to the Divide 
should be considered a day's work was disallowed by 
Station Agent Davis, and the trip schedule fixed by him 
was accepted without a strike. 

Piedmont, though in the heart of the bituminous coal 
region, at this time hardly had an existence as a commu- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 27 

nity, since there were only eight or ten frame houses, and 
these of the most primitive kind. Station Agent Davis 
Hved in a box-car for the first year, and then built a 
house, to which he brought his bride, who in the mean- 
time had remained at Frederick. The estate of her 
father, Judge Bantz, who died in 1854, provided a sub- 
stantial sum for Davis's investment. 

Davis continued as station agent and superintendent 
of motive power for four years, but at the same time 
engaged in private enterprises in connection with his 
brother, Thomas B. Davis. Paying wages to his own kin 
did not seem brotherly, and so Henry G. made Thomas 
a partner. The latter also had been a brakeman on the 
railway, but had left its employment. The brothers 
started a general store, and engaged in what then was 
called merchandising, but they were a good deal more 
than country merchants. Their business continued to 
grow, so that in 1858 the station agent resigned, and gave 
all his time to the several enterprises in which they en- 
gaged. Later, William R., the youngest brother, who 
had been educated by Henry and Thomas, was brought to 
Piedmont and given an interest in the busines-s, which 
took the partnership name of H. G. Davis & Company, 
and, with Henry as its head, continued under that name 
for many years. 

H. G. Davis & Company bought the products of the 
farmers in the narrow valley of Piedmont, and sold them 
feed, groceries, dry-goods, and hardware in return ; but 
their principal business was in supplying the railway 
company and in shipping coal. They delivered oil to the 
railway in barrels, and they supplied it with all kinds of 
lumber. They were among the first to open up the tim- 
ber resources of the surrounding country and uncover its 
forest wealth. Their sawmills in the wilderness were 



28 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the wonder of the day. Their pioneer lurnber camps 
were models for that period and for later periods. This 
is the testimony of John Reilly, who was their foreman, 
and who survived all the brothers. Their enterprise 
made them widely known. 

Banking facilities, during the middle period of the 
nineteenth century and earlier, were not ample in regions 
that were still in the pioneer state of development. In- 
choate captains of industry, and ambitious men who 
undertook large enterprises, had to provide these facil- 
ities for the communities in which they operated. It was 
therefore an inevitable sequence of their merchandise 
business, their coal and timber shipments, and their rail- 
way contracts that H. G. Davis & Company should estab- 
lish a bank. It was equally inevitable that H. G. Davis, 
as the most progressive man in the region and the head 
of its growing business, should be the president of the 
institution. 

Thus was formed the Piedmont Savings Bank in the 
town of Piedmont in the County of Hampshire, in 1858, 
which was invested with all the rights, powers, and privi- 
leges conferred and made subject to all the rules, regula- 
tions, restrictions, and provisions made and imposed by 
Chapters 57 and 59 of the Code of Virginia, and the pro- 
visions of the Act Amending the Tenth Section of Chap- 
ter 57 of the Code of Virginia. The bank was one of 
deposit and discount and not of issue, but later was 
changed into a State bank and then into a national one. 

A printed copy of the charter and by-laws, with the 
list of officers, shows that, besides H. G. Davis, as the 
president, T. B. Davis and W. R. Davis were directors, 
so that it was preeminently a Davis institution. From 
bank-book No. 2, in which was kept the account of Mrs. 
C. A, Davis, it appears that when the deposits were en- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 29 

tered the cashier receipted for them under the entry. 
Business continued to prosper, while the head of the firm 
and bank president, as an incident to his private affairs, 
served as a member of the town council. 

When the Civil War broke out, H. G. Davis & Com- 
pany was the principal business concern in the upper 
Potomac region. It also owned considerable coal and 
timber lands, as yet undeveloped. One of the earliest 
ventures of H. G. Davis, when station agent, had been to 
lend fifteen hundred dollars on a mortgage on some of 
the wild lands of Georges Creek. The mortgagee de- 
faulted, and the impairment of his capital to the amount 
of fifteen hundred dollars was a serious thing for H. G. 
Davis. His associates shook their heads and condoled 
with him on the loss ; but he, according to the tradition 
still prevalent, told them that he proposed to hold the 
tract, and would realize at least one thousand dollars out 
of it. Not very many years afterward it was sold for 
sixty thousand dollars. 

The upper Potomac country was the borderland be- 
tween the Union forces and the Confederates. Hamp- 
shire County, as a local historian narrates, was never 
free from soldiers from the day the Ordinance of Seces- 
sion was passed by the Richmond Convention until peace 
was restored. It was a perpetual battlefield. Usually 
the Union forces were in possession, but the Confeder- 
ates made daring raids and occupied the various points 
temporarily. It was said that Romney, the county-seat 
of Hampshire, was occupied alternately by Union forces 
and Confederates fifty-six times in the four years of 
fighting, a record surpassed only by Winchester, farther 
down the valley. One half of the men in the county 
were said to be in the Confederate army, but there was a 
strong Union sentiment in the vicinity of Piedmont. 



30 ,THE LIFE AND TIMES OF. 

The Davlses were Union men. Once a Confederate 
raiding force swooped down on the town with the de- 
clared purpose of carrying off its leading citizen. When 
the raiders first appeared, the family, like other families, 
took refuge in the cellar, but the head of it was off in the 
mountains. The Confederates were intensely disgusted 
at not finding him, but they did not molest the family be- 
yond telling them that they hoped to find the leading cit- 
izen at home the next time they called. 

The business of H. G. Davis & Company of course was 
interrupted by the activities of the Confederates. The 
bank was closed in order that its funds might not fall into 
their hands, and the general merchandising was more or 
less interfered with; but the more serious interruption 
was to the providing of coal and lumber, the supplies for 
the soldiers, and the speedy transportation of Union 
troops. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at this period 
was almost as vital to the cause of the Union as was the 
Union Pacific line in holding California. It was one of 
President Lincoln's constant anxieties. There was no 
danger that the Confederates could take and hold a con- 
siderable section of it permanently, but they could and 
did interfere with its usefulness to the Union forces by 
•their destructive raids, and by their interference with 
supplies. Mosby's raiders in particular were active in 
this kind of warfare. 

H. G. Davis & Company was equal to this situation. 
Its men constantly traversed the counties of Maryland, 
West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, buying the horses 
which they supplied to the Government. They also acted 
as timber cruisers and selected the most easily obtained 
timber. H. G. Davis & Company had large contracts 
with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, as well as with 
the Government, for supplying lumber in its different 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 31 

forms. The initiative and energy of the head of the 
firm was one of the marvels of that day. No one could 
turn standing trees into cross-ties and timber as swiftly 
as he. Lumber camps were established in the wilder- 
ness overnight, trams built, and sawmills set up. The 
firm also bought the product of other mills. 

It was of greatest importance to the railway company 
to have ties, bridge timber, and other lumber always in 
reserve, and the quality of anticipation that Davis had 
shown as a water-boy at the Woodstock quarry was here 
brought out in its strongest light. He anticipated every- 
thing that could happen. The prospect that the company 
would want a certain quantity of ties was foreseen ; but, 
besides that quantity there was always an equal quantity 
in reserve to provide against emergencies such as a raid 
by Mosby's men. 

It was this circumstance that brought about Henry G. 
Davis's one interview with Lincoln. As the war pro- 
gressed, he felt that he should do something more than 
he was doing for the cause of the Union, and he proposed 
to enlist. He was then forty years old. Governor 
Swann, who was charged with a share of the responsibil- 
ity of maintaining the Baltimore and Ohio in operation, 
and who sometimes was sent for by Lincoln, heard of his 
intention, and called him to Baltimore. They went to 
Washington together. Governor Swann took him to the 
White House, and explained to the President the work 
he was doing, and how essential it was to the Baltimore 
and Ohio that he remain where he was. 

In after years Mr. Davis sometimes spoke of the im- 
pression Lincoln made on him. He himself was a man 
of striking physique. He was an even six feet tall, 
strongly built, but without an ounce of superfluous flesh. 
"A big man," as the phrase goes, and he considered him- 



32 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

self so. But when Lincoln, after listening to Governor 
Swann, came over and, placing both hands on his shoul- 
ders, looked down on him and called him ''young man," 
he felt, as he said, that he wasn't so big a man after all. 
"Young man," said Lincoln, *'so you want to carry a 
musket? Isn't it better to carry five thousand muskets? 
Swann says you are worth that many where you are now. 
I want you to stay there." 

Davis went back to his post, and continued to supply 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company with ties and 
other equipment to meet emergencies. When the war 
ended, the firm, notwithstanding some heavy losses, had 
made substantial profits and had accumulated consider- 
able capital, most of which was due to Henry G. Davis. 
This capital afiforded the means of carrying out the 
larger plans that he long had had in mind, and which' 
were based on his implicit faith in the resources of the 
upper Potomac region. Though the youngest brother 
opposed it and would not invest a dollar in the purchase 
of lands, H. G. Davis & Company bought several thou- 
sand acres of fine timberlands in the wild Cheat River 
country, at the summit of the Alleghanies, most of them 
in Garrett County, Maryland. 

These lands were part of what had once been one of 
the largest private estates in the world, the six million 
acres that had comprised the property of Thomas, Sixth 
Lord Fairfax, the owner of the Northern Neck in Vir- 
ginia. The boundaries of some of them ran from Fair- 
fax Stone, in the corner of West Virginia and Maryland, 
which for more than a century had been a subject of con- 
tention between Maryland and Virginia. Several of the 
maps describing metes and boundaries of the tracts pur- 
chased bore the initials of George Washington as sur- 
veyor. This forest wilderness had an assured value as 




Reproduction of daguerreotype of Kate Bantz Davis 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 33 

timberland, although few men had the courage to make 
large investments in it. What wealth of coal might 
underlie it, no one could guess. Its development was to 
signalize the constructive capacity of Henry G. Davis 
and to form a leading chapter in his career as a railway 
builder following a period of public service. 



CHAPTER III 

EARLY PUBLIC LIFE 

West Virginia a war-born State — Davis's belief in separation 
from the Old Dominion — Election to the Legislature as a Union- 
Conservative — Paucity of lawyers — Status of ex-Confederates — 
Reasons for test oaths and disfranchisement — Party passions — 
Committee assignments — Fiscal subjects and internal improve- 
ments — Delegate to Democratic National Convention — Election to 
State Senate — Repeal of test laws — Struggle over enfranchise- 
ment legislation — The debt question — Second election to State 
Senate — Democrats in power — Adventures of legislators in mid- 
winter journey to Charleston — Work of the session — Election to 
United States Senate. 

THE early public life of Henry G. Davis was con- 
temporaneous with the early years of the com- 
monwealth with which he was identified for more 
than half a century. When he entered politics West 
Virginia was still a State in the making. The frame- 
work of government had been set up and its functions 
performed during the closing years of the Civil War. 
But there had been little done, because in the midst of 
war there could be little done, to perfect the organization 
that was to endure for all time. 

The new State had been a battle camp over parts of 
which contending armies fought, while its citizenship had 
been divided. Its people had separated from the Old 
Dominion on the great issue of the preservation of the 
Union, but some of them had been sympathetic to the 
cause of the Confederacy. Once the vital issue of the 

34 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 35 

Union was settled, it was inevitable that there should be 
a reaction from the passions evoked by the great strug- 
gle, and that many of those who had been instrumental 
in the formation of the new commonwealth should find 
themselves out of sympathy with their former associates 
who still favored extreme measures. This was the 
natural swinging of the pendulum from radicalism to 
conservatism. 

The moderation that was characteristic of Mr. Davis 
was certain to place him in the ranks of the conservatives. 
A strong Union man throughout the war, he was equally 
strong in advocating conciliation after the war. The 
abuse possible in the application of the stringent laws 
passed to insure the control of the Government by those 
loyal to the Union, and the bitterness engendered through 
partizanship, were brought directly home to him when, at 
one election, through personal animosity, his own name 
was stricken from the voters' registration list. If the 
law could be so abused in his own case, he realized how 
widespread might be its abuse in the case of others. 

While the trend of his political action undoubtedly was 
influenced by this incident, there was not the remotest 
suggestion of sympathy with those who were seeking to 
undo the work of the men who had formed the State of 
West Virginia, and were working to secure the reincor- 
poration of the new commonwealth with old Virginia. 
He recognized that the northwestern and the eastern 
sections of the Old Dominion were separated geograph- 
ically by the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies. He fully 
understood the difference in sentiment and interest be- 
tween the people west and the people east of the Alle- 
ghanies. With his faith in the industrial future of the 
western section, and the necessity of constructive meas- 
ures for developing its great natural resources, he knew 



36 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

that the control which the old-school politicians of the 
tidewater region had exercised for three quarters of a 
century must end, and he was not the man to be influ- 
enced by sentimental pleas when that sentiment was made 
the cover for the continued aggrandizement of one sec- 
tion at the expense of another section. 

This feeling was reflected in a speech made by Daniel 
Lamb at the Wheeling Convention in 1861, when the 
ordinance for the formation of the new State was under 
discussion. ''We are," said Mr. Lamb, "in fact a differ- 
ent people. Our social habits are different. Our com- 
mercial relations are not with eastern Virginia. The 
productions of our soil and of our workshop do not go in 
that direction, nor do we purchase the articles we want 
from the cities of eastern Virginia. Every considera- 
tion which can be addressed to the wisdom of statesmen 
would demand a separation at the proper time and in the 
proper manner." 

This was the conviction of Mr. Davis also, and it was 
made manifest in his opposition to all attempts to undo 
the new commonwealth. This is of some importance, 
because his political course in these early years lay with 
those who to some extent were sympathetic to the Old 
Dominion. 

In the autumn of 1865 Mr. Davis was elected from 
Hampshire County to the Legislature as a member of the 
House of Delegates as a Union-Conservative. This was 
within six months after the close of the Civil War. The 
term "Union-Conservative" itself describes the political 
conditions which existed at that period. 

The Fourth Legislature, as it was called, since annual 
sessions were held, met at Wheeling in January, 1866. 
This Legislature was a very remarkable body, remark- 
able in one respect for the small number of lawyers that 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 37 

it contained. It is doubtful whether any legislative as- 
sembly among the several States ever had so small a per- 
centage of the legal profession. In the Senate, which 
was composed of nineteen members, there were three 
lawyers. In the House, among the fifty-two members, 
there was only one lawyer, Mr. Henry Clay McWhorter, 
afterward a Judge of the Court of Appeals. There were 
twenty farmers, twelve merchants, one of whom was 
Henry G. Davis ; two ministers of the gospel ; four phy- 
sicians; one banker, one teacher, one clerk; and seven 
mechanics, who described themselves as millwrights, 
blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and ironmasters. The Com- 
mittee on the Judiciary had the lawyer for its chairman, 
while the other members were a merchant, a farmer, a 
banker, and a clerk. 

The membership of the Legislature was typical of the 
new State. The communities were isolated, for the era 
of railway communication was in its early stages. 
Farming was still the principal occupation of the people, 
since the industrial development, except along the Ohio 
River, had barely begun. The members were truly rep- 
resentative of the self-contained, virile, rugged people 
who elected them. Nor does it appear that the processes 
of law-making at this period suffered from the small 
number of members of the legal profession who took 
part in it. 

Two fundamental subjects, somewhat antagonistic in 
their nature, confronted this Legislature. One was the 
political issues growing out of the Civil War ; the other 
was the constructive measures of taxation, finance, ad- 
ministrative organization, industrial development, and 
internal improvement which were vital to the new com- 
monwealth in solving the problem of continued existence. 
Mr. Davis, as a member of the House of Delegates, took 



38 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

a prominent part in the discussion of both subjects. Gov- 
ernor Boreman, in his message, said that permanent civil 
organization had been restored in all but five or six east- 
ern counties. He recited the efforts of the ex-Confed- 
erates and their sympathizers in several of the counties 
to elect to office persons who were ineligible under the 
Constitution of 1863 and the laws enacted to make it 
effective. 

These laws included test oaths for teachers, attorneys, 
jurors, voters, and all officials. There were also statutes 
under which ex-Confederates could be sued for damages 
done to the property of loyalists by the military com- 
mands under which they served, and a law to prevent 
the prosecution of civil suits asrainst loyalists by persons 
who had been engaged in the Rebellion. 

This statute, the Governor declared, was of doubtful 
expediency. He recommended amendments to the elec- 
tion laws under which the Governor would be authorized 
to appoint county registration boards, with power to des- 
ignate the township registers, and to act as the court of 
last appeal in all election and voting contests. The pur- 
pose of this recommendation was to prevent the ex-Con- 
federates and their sympathizers in sections where they 
had the numerical superiority, controlling the voting and 
thus electing to office candidates who, under the Consti- 
tution of 1863 and the subsequent laws, were ineligible. 

There was much partizan discussion in both branches 
of the Legislature over this subject, in which the passions 
of the Civil War, still heated, flamed out. Mr. Davis 
took part in the discussion, and, as a Union-Conservative 
member, opposed the test oaths in all their forms, and 
voted against the further restrictions on suffrage which 
were proposed. It was, however, in the discussion of 
measures of a non-political character, and in the work of 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 39 

the committees, that his qualities of constructive leader- 
ship showed themselves. The principal committee on 
which he served was that on Taxation and Finance. It 
had not only to provide for the appropriations for the 
State government, but also to devise the measures of 
taxation, and to formulate much of the fiscal legislation 
essential to the functions of the new commonwealth. 

Nathan Goff, Sr., of Clarksburg, was chairman of this 
committee. He was a man of great influence through- 
out the State and had the respect and confidence of all 
parties. He quickly recognized the value of Mr. Davis's 
business experience and sound judgment in dealing with 
all these subjects. They worked together in complete 
harmony, and a strong personal friendship sprang up 
between them. Subsequently Mr. Goif 's nephew, Nathan 
Gofif, Jr., was a member of the Legislature, and with him, 
too, Mr. Davis maintained a warm friendship. Years 
afterward, when President Hayes nominated Nathan 
Gofif, Jr., for Secretary of the Navy, it was the privilege 
of Mr. Davis, as a Senator of the United States, to move 
his confirmation. 

In addition to his work in providing for the fiscal or- 
ganization, Mr. Davis took a leading part in bringing to 
a head various projects of internal improvements which 
were of great consequence to the State. He was a mem- 
ber of the Committee on Roads and Internal Navigation. 
The improvement of the turnpikes received much atten- 
tion from this committee, but its labors also embraced 
the larger subjects of the James River and Kanawha 
Canal and the railway enterprises which were deemed 
worthy of encouragement as a means of developing the 
State. Among the transportation lines which, by the 
action of the Legislature, received a charter, was the 
Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railroad Company, 



40 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

which, years later, was to become the basis of Mr. 
Davis's most important railway enterprise. 

At this session Mr. Davis introduced and had passed 
the bill creating Mineral County out of Hampshire 
County. Thereafter his citizenship was in Mineral 
County instead of Hampshire. 

The first year's experience as a State legislator had 
been very valuable to Mr. Davis. It had enabled him to 
form the close personal acquaintanceship of men from all 
sections. It had brought him in direct contact with 
many local political leaders who found themselves look- 
ing to him for advice. It was the first step in the polit- 
ical leadership of the State which, in after years, fell to 
him. 

Air. Davis did not seek reelection to the House of Dele- 
gates. Business affairs occupied much of his time, and 
apparently he wanted a few months free from official 
responsibility. But that he had not lost his interest in 
politics was made apparent early in 1868, when he an- 
nounced himself as a candidate for the State Senate. 
The result is given in a brief entry in his journal: 

May 20, 1868. J. S. Vance and J. W. Key, candidates for 
House of Delegates. Vance nominated. H. G. Davis, myself, 
nominated unanimously for Senate. Colonel J. N. Camden, Wil- 
son, Johnston, present. A large meeting. 

Another indication of political influence, and also of 
the alinement of parties, was given about the same time, 
when Mr. Davis was chosen a delegate to the Democratic 
National Convention at New York City. It was no 
longer a question of Union-Conservatives and Radicals, 
but of Democrats and Republicans. He attended the 
convention at which Seymour and Blair were nominated, 
and for the first time met members of the Democratic 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 41 

party who were national leaders. With several of these 
he was to occupy important relations in later years. 

The question of suffrage and the disfranchisement of 
ex-Confederates were the leading issues of the State 
campaign in 1868.^ The radical wing of the Republican 
party, which was in control of the organization, advo- 
cated further legislation, claiming that this was neces- 
sary because of the disorders in the southern counties, 
where some of the ex-Confederates were charged with 
lawless acts. The great body of ex-Confederates had 
returned peacefully to their homes, and were doing their 
share toward the upbuilding of the State. To them it 
was a burning wrong that they should be denied the 
privileges of citizenship, since they had accepted in good 
faith the result of the war. A moderate element among 
the Republicans took this view, and it was to them that 
Mr. Davis, because of his conservatism, appealed for 
support. 

In the campaign throughout the State those who ad- 
vocated greater liberality toward ex-Confederates were 
described as "Let-Ups." This colloquial designation re- 
flected very accurately the dominant political issue. The 

1 At the session of the Legislature in 1865, an amendment to the Con- 
stitution was proposed, which was afterward adopted, providing in effect 
that no person who had participated in the Rebellion, or given aid or 
comfort to the Confederacy, should be deemed a citizen of the State or 
allowed to vote at any election. Statutes were passed requiring attor- 
neys-at-law, teachers, jurors, voters, and all officers to make oath that 
they had not since June 20, 1863, borne arms against the United States 
or the State of West Virginia, or voluntarily given aid and comfort to 
persons engaged in armed hostility thereto. The defendant in any suit 
could require the plaintiff to take such an oath. The statute also pro- 
vided that no suit should be maintained against any person for acts done 
in the suppression of the Rebellion. The courts further held that suits 
might be maintained bj^ loyal persons against those who had been in the 
Confederate army for injuries done by the said army. Under this statute 
there were some actions of trespass maintained, and judgments given 
against returned ex-Confederates. 



42 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

question to be decided was whether or not the State in its 
poHtical functions should ''let up" on those who had been 
Confederates or who had shown themselves as sympa- 
thizers with the Confederacy. 

Mr. Davis made an active campaign in his district. 
Some of the incidents are briefly described in the itiner- 
ary which his journal sets forth. This is one of several 
entries of a similar character: 

September 14. I go to Berkeley Springs to attend a meeting. 
It was the first day of Court. Many people there. Governor 
Green, Clay Smith, and Judge Moore of Kentucky spoke with 
good effect. 

The successful outcome of his canvass is tersely in- 
dicated in this manner: 

October 30. Returns in; elected by 66 majority. Piedmont 
gives State ticket 63 majority ; me 135. 

Though the Democrats had made gains, they were still 
in the minority in the Legislature, which met at Wheel- 
ing in January, 1869. The number of lawyers had been 
increased slightly in the two years since Mr. Davis had 
served as a member of the House of Delegates. He now 
had four lawyer colleagues in the Senate. 

Governor Boreman, in his message, reviewed the po- 
litical and fiscal conditions of the Commonwealth. The 
State had been organized, he said, a little short of six 
years, created in the midst of civil strife during the terri- 
ble struggle for nationality and the principles underlying 
free institutions. This was the dominant note of the 
Republican majority in maintaining its position in regard 
to the suffrage. Governor Boreman resigned at this 
session, and was elected to the United States Senate. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 43 

He was succeeded by William E. Stevenson, who had 
served in the State Senate for several terms. 

Governor Stevenson reflected the attitude of the more 
liberal members of his party, although he insisted on the 
necessity of continuing some of the restrictive measures. 
He recommended the repeal of the attorneys' and teach- 
ers' test oaths, while he questioned the wisdom of the 
further continuance of what was known as the suitor's 
oath in law cases. He also favored the amendment re- 
storing citizenship to the disfranchised. The restrictive 
measures, he said, had not originated in a vindictive 
spirit. "They were adopted during a time of great pub- 
lic peril. They were prompted by that instinct of self- 
preservation which impels every community to shield it- 
self from present or impending danger. . . . These dis- 
abilities were not, however, intended to be perpetual, but 
only to remain in force until all danger to the public peace 
was passed." 

The majority, however, were still very determined in 
demanding the most thorough proofs of reconstruction 
on the part of those who sought to be restored to citizen- 
ship. A joint resolution was passed that the petition of 
any person would not be favorably considered except 
such petition should be accompanied by a written renun- 
ciation of former wrongs and an acknowledgment of 
errrors, discarding the false dogmas of exclusive States' 
rights sovereignty. 

The legislative record of this period discloses several 
instances of the manner in which those who were seeking 
to exercise the full rights of citizenship were compelled 
to make their acknowledgment of loyalty. A single il- 
lustration, which appears in the bill authorizing Leonard 
S. Hall, of Weitzel County, to practise law in the courts 



44 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of the State, suffices. The bill, which was passed by a 
vote of 14 to 5 in the Senate, and which numbered Henry 
G. Davis among those who voted in the affirmative, was 
accompanied by the following letter : 

Wheeling, W. Va., 

January 26, 1869. 
To the Honorable the Legislature of West Virginia — 

I respectfully ask you to permit me to practise law in this 
State without taking the attorney's test eath. I cannot take said 
oath from the fact that I was in Richmond, Va., at the time of the 
breaking out of the war, and although I was never in armed hostil- 
ity against the United States, yet I adhered to the Confederate 
States, which I confess was wrong and the great mistake of my 
life. I subscribe to the terms of your resolution of June 8, 1868, 
a copy of which is herewith filed, and I promise to faithfully obey 
your laws and conduct myself as a good citizen. 

Yours respectfully, 

L, S. Hall. 

At this session Senator Davis presented numerous 
petitions of citizens in his district asking for the repeal 
of all the test oaths, and for modification of the registra- 
tion act. He was active in urging this legislation, and 
equally active in opposing everything that looked to fur- 
ther restriction of the white suffrage. He also strength- 
ened himself politically with a large element in the State 
by his opposition to the ratification of the amendment to 
the Federal Constitution providing for negro suffrage. 
Independently of the passing politics of the hour, he 
viewed the conferring of the ballot on the negroes as a 
grave mistake. As a partizan manoeuver he gave the 
Republican majority some discomfort by moving to have 
the ratification of the amendment referred to the people 
of the State for acceptance or rejection. His motion 
was defeated, and the Legislature ratified the amend- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 45 

ment ; but his action undoubtedly strengthened the Demo- 
cratic party throughout the State. 

While these political questions received much atten- 
tion and gave Mr. Davis increasing prominence as a 
party leader, he found a much more congenial field in the 
measures of constructive legislation. He was a member 
of the Committee on Finance and Claims, Internal Im- 
provements and Navigation, and Auditing Accounts. 
Serving on them, he was enabled to supplement and 
develop many of the measures that had received his 
support when a member of the House of Delegates. 

Adjustment of the debt between Virginia and West 
Virginia was one of the subjects that claimed his atten- 
tion, and from the beginning he took a definite position 
on this vexed question. His position in substance was 
that West Virginia should pay a just share of the debt, 
but that it must first be ascertained what a just share 
was. He favored the various propositions for commis- 
sioners to confer with commissioners from the State of 
Virginia, and was himself the author of one of the reso- 
lutions providing for the appointment of commissioners. 
In whatever he had to say on the subject during the dis- 
cussions in the Legislature, he never accepted the as- 
sumption made by Virginia that West Virginia should 
pay one third of the debt. 

The question was postponed because the suit of Vir- 
ginia to cause the reincorporation of Jefferson and Berk- 
eley counties with it was still pending in the Supreme 
Court of the United States. Later, when he was a mem- 
ber of the United States Senate, Mr. Davis reviewed the 
whole debt question from the standpoint of West Vir- 
ginia in vindication of the stand he himself had taken 
and maintained. 

At this session of the Legislature steps were taken for 



46 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

appropriating proper funds for buildings to house the 
public institutions. The public school system was placed 
on a firm foundation, and numerous new schools were 
created. A significant step in higher education was 
taken when the Agricultural College at Morgantown was 
changed to the West Virginia University. This was the 
birth of the present great State University, which is so 
thoroughly representative of West Virginia's interest in 
higher education. Mr. Davis concurred in all these 
measures. His name also frequently appears in connec- 
tion with the bills relating to internal improvements and 
provisions for developing the great natural wealth of the 
State. 

Mr. Davis's second year in the State Senate was 
marked by the ending of the political controversy over 
the disfranchising of ex-Confederates. The liberal ele- 
ment in the Republican party had made its influence felt, 
and, moreover, the passions engendered by the Civil War 
had begun to die out. Governor Stevenson in his mes- 
sage, while insisting that a proper respect for the laws 
under which they lived and a satisfactory assurance of 
peaceful intentions in the future should be required from 
the ex-Confederates, nevertheless recommended the re- 
peal of the test oaths and the adoption of an amendment 
restoring the privileges of those who were disfranchised. 
This recommendation was embodied in what was known 
as the Flick amendment. Bills were passed repealing 
the test oaths and also adopting the amendment. 

When this Legislature adjourned, Mr. Davis was 
awarded much credit throughout the State for the legis- 
lation restoring the franchise to those who had been dis- 
qualified. Notwithstanding that his business affairs 
were pressing, he still gave a large part of his time to 
politics. He was renominated for the State Senate. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 47 

His opponent was W. H. H. Flick, the author of the en- 
franchising amendment. 

Entries in his journal show the activities of that year 
and reflect the political tendencies. Some of them fol- 
low: 

May 21. I was at New Creek to attend a Democratic and Con- 
servative convention. 

June 6. I start to Democratic-Conservative convention at 
Charleston. 

June 10. Return from convention. Had a pleasant trip. 
Nominated J. J. Jacobs, of Hampshire County, for Governor. 
Col. Camden declined. 

June 12. Republicans held their State conventions at Parkers- 
burg yesterday. Nominated nearly all the prominent State offi- 
cers. 

July 21. Returned from Moorefield Senate convention. A 
large number of persons from several counties were there. Our 
candidate for Governor, J. J. Jacobs, spoke in the morning. I 
was unanimously elected the Democratic or Conservative candi- 
date for State Senate. No other name put before convention. 

September 6. Attended Congressional convention at Pied- 
mont. Nominated O. D. Downey. The nomination was offered 
me. I declined in favor of Downey. 

Joint debates between political candidates were com- 
mon in those days, and Mr. Davis, although not profes- 
sionally a speaker, followed the usual practise and de- 
bated the issues with his opponent. His journal has sev- 
eral references to conferences with Mr. Flick in which 
they decided on the dates and places for their meetings. 
There are also intimations of the mutual respect which 
the candidates felt for each other. Mr. Flick was, in 
fact, a formidable opponent. A broad-minded man, who 
subsequently received high honors from his party, he had 
strengthened himself by his support of liberal franchise 
legislation, and the Flick amendment was looked upon as 



48 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

a means of keeping the allegiance of Republican voters 
who had become dissatisfied with the restrictive legisla- 
tion. 

The outcome of the -campaign and its political signifi- 
cance is briefly indicated in several entries in the journal : 

October 2y. Election day. 

October 28. I go to Piedmont to get election returns. Min- 
eral County goes Democratic. News looks favorable. 

October 31. Our State (West Va.) has gone Democratic. 
We elected Governor and State officers and a majority to the Leg- 
islature, securing a United States Senator. My majority 238; 
two years ago it was 70 in the same district. 

The significance of the victory secured, and so tersely 
described, was immediately recognized. It was the be- 
ginning of the political ascendancy of the Democratic 
party in West Virginia for twenty-five years. That the 
talent for organization shown by Mr. Davis and his 
shrewd political judgment had much to do with the result, 
was universally admitted. That an honorable ambition 
for further public service in higher councils had been 
nourished by him was also disclosed. The first evidence 
of it appears in these entries in the journal : 

Novmber i. I have just returned from a visit to Wheeling, 
Parkersburg, etc. Find my friends Camden, Jackson, Baker, 
etc., all right, and firm for me for United States Senate. 

December 3. Went to Grafton to meet Lewis Baker. He is 
fine, and doing what he can in a discreet way. He thinks we 
must win. 

Going to the Legislature, as it was familiarly spoken 
of, was not so easy at this period. The capital had been 
permanently changed from Wheeling to Charleston, and 
Charleston then had no railroad connection and could be 
reached only by stage or boat on the Kanawha and its 




Finance Committee of West Virginia Legislature 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 49 

tributaries. A few days before the Legislature was to 
convene in January, 187 1, a large number of the mem- 
bers from the northern and eastern end of the State met 
at Parkersburg, only to find the weather very cold and 
the river navigation entirely closed by reason of the ice. 
Mr. Davis was one of the party. Another, a lad of 
thirteen, was Alston G. Dayton, later a member of Con- 
gress and a Federal Judge. He was with his father. 
Judge Dayton's recollection of the trip was vivid, after 
nearly fifty years. 

The party, Judge Dayton recounted, secured hacks 
and horses. Soon after they started the weather mod- 
erated, heavy rains came on, and the roads thawed out so 
rapidly that they became almost impassable, while the 
streams were swollen so as to be dangerous to cross. 
One stream they got over in a flat-boat, carrying two or 
three at a time, and then swam the horses across. Late 
at night they reached Sissonville, on the Pocatalico 
River, which was full of running ice that made crossing 
it impossible. 

Sissonville at that time was composed of a small mill, 
a country store, which the party found locked up, a small 
blacksmith shop, and an old-fashioned two-story house 
on the hillside. Senator Davis made straight for the 
house to arrange for shelter and succor for the party. 
He returned somewhat crestfallen, and gave a graphic 
description of his experience. After knocking for a long 
time at the front door, it was opened a few inches by a 
middle-aged woman, who told him that she was a "lone 
widder woman" with nobody in the house but her young 
daughter and small son, and she could not afford to allow 
such a pack of men to come in. 

The elder Dayton then tried his persuasive powers. 
He went to the house and told the woman that the parties 



50 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

were members of the Legislature, and that they were all 
men of good character. It was related afterward with 
some humor that this only made her the more suspicious. 
Finally a solution was found. An express wagon loaded 
with a heavy iron safe and drawn by four horses, with a 
guard of four men, had been included in the party when 
it left Parkersburg. The expressmen had managed to 
get it a'cross the streams and through the muddy roads. 
It was understood that the safe contained a large sum of 
money in transportation to pay off the men who were 
working on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Mr. 
Dayton induced the woman to come to the window and 
look at the safe, and then argued that if she would let it 
be brought into the house overnight she could feel sure of 
the respectability of the legislators. 

This argument prevailed. The safe was deposited in 
the front hall, the members of the party admitted, fires 
were lit and supper was provided — corn-bread, bacon, 
and buttermilk. The meal was partaken of in relays. 
Such bedding as the household possessed was spread on 
the floor, and the wearied legislators slept as best they 
could. In the morning they were given a chicken break- 
fast with soda biscuit. On asking the reckoning, they 
were told that there was no charge for sleeping on the 
floor, and that the usual price for meals was ten cents ; 
but, in view of the extra work, the widow thought she 
ought to have thirty cents for supper and breakfast. 
Senator Davis pulled out from his pocket a silver dollar 
and gave it to her, and the members of the party formed 
in line and each one did likewise. 

After further adventures the party finally reached 
Charleston, and settled down to the work of the session. 

The fruits of State Senator Davis's political leader- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 51 

ship, and the further evidence of his ambition for higher 
place, is indicated in a series of entries in his journal : 

January 17, 1871. First day of session of Legislature. Each 
House organized by electing Lewis Baker of Wheeling, President 
of Senate, and E. E. Crocroft, of Wheeling, Speaker of the House. 

January 18. Committees announced. I am chairman of Fi- 
nance and Claims. 

January 20. Senatorial contest is getting warm. I feel sure of 
success. 

January 23. The senatorial question is the all-absorbing one. 
It is the talk of everyone. Many admit I must be elected. 

January 26. Great excitement as to who shall be Senator. 
My friends say I will win, and I agree with them. 

January 27. I was nominated for U. S. Senate in Democratic 
caucus last night on first ballot by a vote of 12 for Mr. Lamb, 12 
for Col. Smith, and 27 for H. G. Davis. 

January 28. All appear satisfied that I am to be next Demo- 
cratic Senator. 

January .31. At noon we vote for Senator. Senate, Brown 8, 
Davis 14; House, Brown 14, Davis 39. Total, Brown 22; Davis 
53. So I have a majority in each House. Harman, Koontz, Gold 
and Stubbs, Republicans, voted for me. 

This is a modest account of a very live struggle as to 
who should be the first Democratic -Senator from West 
Virginia. Daniel Lamb and Colonel B. H. Smith, who 
contended with Mr. Davis for the honor, were both 
strong party leaders and each had a personal following, 
but their combined strength did not equal that of Mr. 
Davis in the party caucus. Mr. Brown, who received 
the Republican vote, had been prominent in his own 
party. The outgoing Republican Senator whom Mr. 
Davis succeeded was Waitman T. Wiley, of Morgan- 
town, one of the staunch leaders in the formation of the 
new State. 

Of deep human interest was the characteristic note in 



52 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

which Senator Davis informed his wife of his election. 
This information was conveyed in the following letter. 

Charleston, 
January 31, 187 1. 
My dear Kate: 

All O. K. I was to-day, by a vote of more than two to one, 
elected U. S. Senator for six years from 4th of March. I am 
well and in fine spirits. Write often. Hope all are well. 

Yours, 

Henry. 

During the remainder of the session Mr. Davis con- 
tinued his work as State Senator, mainly on the Com- 
mittee on Finance and Claims, of which he was now 
chairman by virtue of his party being in the majority. 
His principal labor was in helping to formulate a joint 
report of the House and Senate Committees on Taxation 
and Finance regarding the financial condition of the 
State. 

Since a Republican State administration was under 
review, the inquiry had in it some partizanship, as was 
shown by a minority report dissenting from the state- 
ments of the majority; but there was much to which no 
partizan objection could be made. One of the recom- 
mendations was that the school fund, which was main- 
tained by taxation, and the income from investments 
should always at the end of each fiscal year be set apart 
for its own purposes, and never should be estimated with 
the funds of the general treasury, which were subject to 
legislative appropriation. 

This report contained, too, what might be called Mr. 
Davis's final word as a legislator of the State of West 
Virginia on the debt question: "It must be ascertained 
and met in that spirit of fairness which is the distin- 
guishing characteristic of our people." Other details 



J 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 53 

of legislation were faithfully attended to, and when the 
session expired Mr. Davis could look back on five years 
of faithful, constructive service to the new State in which 
both his head and his heart had been intimately con- 
cerned. His service to West Virginia was a fitting pre- 
lude to his service to the nation as a member of the 
United States Senate. 



CHAPTER IV 

SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES FIRST TERM 

Notable members of the Forty-second Congress — The Demo- 
cratic minority in the Senate — Partizan measures and sectional 
issues — Senator Davis's assignment to Claims and Appropriations 
committees — Speech in support of West Virginia war claims — 
Financial legislation in the Forty-third Congress — Panic of 1873 
portrayed — Mobility of currency advocated — President Grant's 
veto of the Inflation Bill — Resumption of specie payments — Work 
as member of Committee on Transportation Routes — ^West Vir- 
ginia waterways — Political revolution gives Democrats a majority 
in the House — Forty-fourth Congress — Senator Davis on Treas- 
ury accounts and government bookkeeping — National and State 
campaigns of 1876 — Reelection to the Senate — Support of Elec- 
toral Commission. 

MR. DAVIS was in his forty-eighth year, the 
prime of a vigorous life, when he began his 
service as a Senator of the United States. 
He was that rare person, a business man devoting him- 
self to public affairs. To the wider field which opened 
before him he brought the valuable legislative training 
that had come from his service In the Legislature of 
West Virginia. He also brought a ripe judgment and 
a comprehensive grasp of the fundamental questions that 
were paramount in the legislation of the nation at that 
day. To these qualifications he added the fruits of a 
matured political experience and a robust support of the 
principles of his own party, tempered with a keen in- 
sight into the principles of the party to which he was in 
opposition. 

54 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 55 

Mr. Davis took his seat in the Senate in the second 
year of President Grant's administration, at the opening 
of the Forty-second Congress, on March 4, 1871. It was 
a notable Congress in its membership in both branches. 
The war giants, who had been responsible for the meas- 
ures which were enacted during the period when the 
preservation of the Union was the supreme issue, were 
still there, and were still shaping the legislation follow- 
ing the great struggle. 

James G. Blaine was Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. James A. Garfield was one of the leaders of 
the Republican party in the House. Samuel J. Randall 
of Pennsylvania was one of the forceful men among the 
minority. Another was Samuel S. Cox, then represent- 
ing a New York district, formerly of Ohio. His old 
railway chief, Thomas Swann, was a member of the 
House. 

In the Senate were Roscoe Conkling of New York, 
Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, former Vice-Presi- 
dent Hannibal Hamlin and Lot M. Morrill of Maine, 
George F. Edmunds and Justin F. Morrill of Vermont, 
Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania, Oliver P. Morton of 
Indiana, John Sherman of Ohio, Zachariah Chandler 
of Michigan, and Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, all of 
whom had taken a prominent part in shaping war legis- 
lation, and most of whom were radicals of the radicals on 
the Reconstruction measures. On the Democratic side 
the leaders were Allen G. Thurman of Ohio and Thomas 
F. Bayard of Delaware. They were reinforced by the 
entry, contemporaneously with Mr. Davis, of Francis P. 
Blair, Jr., of Missouri, and Matthew W. Ransom of 
North Carolina. Among the new Republican Senators 
were John A. Logaii of Illinois, the greatest volunteer 
soldier of the war, William Pitt Kellogg of Louisiana, 



56 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

and Powell Clayton of Arkansas. William Windom of 
Minnesota had come to the Senate from the House in the 
preceding Congress. 

No general amnesty act had yet been passed, and those 
who had taken part in the Rebellion consequently were 
barred from membership, though some of the Southern 
States in which the Demcorats had gained control of the 
legislatures had selected men of this class. The actual 
party alinement was fifty-eight Republicans and sixteen 
Democrats, although the political reaction which later 
was to result in the Liberal Republican movement already 
was manifesting itself, and several of the most promi- 
nent Senators were freeing themselves from the party 
allegiance which they had maintained during the war 
and immediately thereafter. 

Among these were Carl Schurz and Lyman Trumbull. 
Yet the Republican majority was large enough to main- 
tain the party solidarity necessary to carry through what- 
ever measures bore a distinctively political character. 
The Democratic minority was a compact, aggressive 
body which had little difficulty in acting as a unit on most 
questions and which therefore never lacked the qualities 
of a determined opposition. 

There are a few entries in Senator Davis's journal 
regarding his early experiences in the Senate. From 
one of these it appears that a caucus was held at Sen- 
ator Thurman's house in which the minority membership 
of the committees was agreed on. From a later entry 
it is disclosed that the tradition that a new Senator must 
remain silent for two years sometimes was broken even 
in those days, the trespasser on one occasion being the 
fiery Missourian, General F. P. Blair. Under date of 
April 3 is the simple entry, "Gen. Blair spoke all day." 





Henry Gassaway Davis in 1868 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 57 

At another date it is noted that Senator Sumner made 
his great speech on Santo Domingo, 

The principal committee to which Senator Davis was 
assigned was that on Claims. It was an important one, 
since it had to do with the claims growing out of the war. 
Notwithstanding that he was a minority member, much 
of the work of this committee seems to have been as- 
signed to him. The numerous bills reported by him, 
some favorably and some unfavorably, all showed pa- 
tient investigation and impartial judgment. Naturally, 
many of these bills related to his own State, since it had 
been the borderland between the contending armies. 

At this session Senator Davis presented the petition 
from the Legislature of West Virginia favoring the re- 
moval of the political disabilities imposed by the Four- 
teenth Amendment. On other sectional questions grow- 
ing out of the war he acted consistently with his party, 
especially in opposing Senator Sherman's resolutions on 
Southern outrages. 

The second session of the Forty-second Congress 
found him immersed in committee work, and also 
brought evidences of growing appreciation on the part of 
his colleagues. A year after he had become a Senator 
there is a terse entry in his journal: "I am learning 
the ropes about the Senate and feel somewhat at home." 
It was not 'long after this that his political leadership in 
his own State was shown by his election as a delegate to 
the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore. At 
that convention he agreed with other members of his 
party that the only course open to the Democrats was to 
ratify the nomination of Greeley and Brown which had 
been made by the Liberal Republican Convention at 
Cincinnati, but he does not appear to have looked on the 



58 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

nommation of this ticket as presaging party success. 

Political questions, sectional issues, were paramount 
n Congress, and party feeling ran high. Senator Davis, 
while taking a pronounced stand with his party col- 
leagues, managed to avoid the bitter personal contro- 
versies that were a feature of the debates. Both his per- 
sonal feelings and his political principles made him a 
strong advocate of the General Amnesty Bill, under 
which ex-Confederates would be enabled to return to the 
halls of legislation. At the same time he was opposed 
to the Civil Rights Bill, which was supported by the ma- 
jority party in both branches of Congress. The Am- 
nesty Act was finally passed, and later the modified Civil 
Rights Bill. 

In the Forty-third Congress political questions were 
still prominent, but they were not predominant. Finan- 
cial legislation and various measures of internal improve- 
ments claimed much attention. To this Congress came 
several ex-Confederates whose disabilities had been re- 
moved through the passage of the Amnesty Act. Among 
them was L. Q. C. Lamar of Mississippi, who entered 
the House of Representatives. Other new members of 
the House who later filled a large space in the affairs of 
the country were Colonel W. R. Morrison, of horizontal 
tariff bill fame, and J. G. Cannon of Illinois, R. P. Bland 
of Missouri, the free silver advocate, and T. C. Piatt of 
New York. The delegate from the Territory of New 
Mexico was Stephen B. Elkins, who soon was to become 
identified with Senator Davis in the intimate family re- 
lation of son-in-law, and who was to be associated with 
him in his business enterprises, although the two were 
always to remain opposed in national politics. 

Among Senator Davis's new colleagues in the Senate 
were William B. Allison of Iowa, who followed in nat- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 59 

ural progression from the House, John James Ingalls 
of Kansas, John P. Jones of Nevada, and Richard J. 
Oglesby of Illinois. The new members of his own po- 
litical faith included the dashing ex-Confederate cav- 
alry leader. General John B. Gordon of Georgia. The 
Democratic strength was increased by several new Sen- 
ators, and the influence of the minority, chiefly still in 
opposition, became a much more pronounced factor in 
national legislation. 

At the special session of the Senate called by President 
Grant to confirm his Cabinet, Senator Davis was placed 
on the Appropriations Committee, and of this Committee 
he was destined to be a member during the remainder of 
his senatorial term. Senator Morrill of Maine was 
chairman. Two Republican members of the Committee 
with whom Senator Davis through all the remaining 
years of their lives occupied intimate personal relations 
were Allison and Windom. 

The work of this committee was most congenial to 
Senator Davis. Through its complete control of the leg- 
islation affecting all public expenditures it was the most 
powerful committee in the Senate, a power of which it 
had not been shorn by the creation and development of 
other committees, the sequence of the growth of the Gov- 
ernment itself. 

During this Congress one of the great characters of 
the nation passed away. The event is thus described in 
the Senator's journal: 

March 12, 1874. Mr. Sumner, Senator of Mass., was in his 
seat yesterday; to-day dead. Senate adjourns until Monday. 

Senator Davis was still a member of the Committee on 
Claims, and was the author of a bill appropriating 
$500,000 to reimburse West Virginia for the war losses 



6o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of her citizens. At the session in May, 1874, he made a 
speech in support of this bill in which he vividly pictured 
the events of the days of the war. After sketching the 
formation of the State, he said: 

"The people whose cause I advocate suffered much for 
the sake of the Republic. They are the men of the bor- 
der, those men who during the Rebellion were the living 
rampart of the States which adhered to the general Gov- 
ernment. . . . 

"West Virginia was one of the border States during 
the late war, and so had to bear the brunt of hard knocks 
and cruel blows from both the contending armies. She 
was the bulwark, the fortress, interposed between the 
loyal States of the North and the opponents of the Gov- 
ernment. Her hills and valleys resounded with the 
march of hostile armies during the whole war, and on 
numberless occasions were the scene of hard-fought bat- 
tles, and were drenched with the blood of the best and 
bravest of both armies. 

"All the moral influence which she as a State could ex- 
ercise was thrown in the cause of the Government. Be- 
ing one of the principal theaters of action and the Gi- 
braltar of safety for the Northern States, a large number 
of troops was kept in this State all the time. Thus it 
was necessary, as one of the consequences of war, to use 
her schoolhouses and other public buildings as quarters 
to shield the soldier from wintry blasts, or else as hos- 
pitals to protect and care for the wounded. . . . 

"It was a misfortune both to the people of the South 
and the people of the North that this war broke out ; but 
it did break out, and it raged like a flame upon the prairie, 
destroying everything within its reach. It swept over 
our State like a hurricane. It was our lot to have visited 
upon us all the even-ts, all the horrors of war, all the 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 6i 

effusion of blood, the desolation of families, the rapine, 
the acts of violence and the conflagrations incident to 
war. The two armies surged backward and forward 
through our State like the ebbing and flowing of the tide, 
first advancing and then retreating. Life, liberty, prop- 
erty, all went down before the storm. Ties of kindred 
— social, domestic, and religious ties — were snapped 
asunder. Our cultivated fields were laid waste, our 
homes destroyed, our industrial pursuits interrupted, 
nay, almost abandoned. Many of our people were 
driven away from their homes ; their cattle, horses, and 
other stock were taken, their houses burned, and every- 
thing they had on earth destroyed. . . . 

'This is but a faint picture of some of the horrors of 
war. Our neighbors who dwelt in affluence and safety, 
while we stood sentry over their treasures and loved ones, 
little knew the sufferings and privations we were called 
upon to undergo." 

The financial legislation of this Congress was the se- 
quence of the panic of 1873, the full effects of which were 
most acutely felt during the following Spring. There 
was much pressure from the West and South to increase 
the volume of currency as a means of alleviating the in- 
dustrial and commercial distress. The agitation bore 
concrete form in the measure reported by Senator Sher- 
man from the Finance Committee to increase the na- 
tional bank circulation. This afterward came to be 
known as the Inflation Bill, although it was a compromise 
between those who favored increasing the currency and 
those who hoped ultimately to get back to specie basis. 

Senator Davis, like most of his party colleagues, sup- 
ported this measure; in doing this he made it clear that 
he did not think a greater volume of currency was nec- 
essary, but that what was needed was a more equal dis- 



62 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

tribution in different sections of the country. He did 
not look upon the National Bank Act as sufficiently elas- 
tic, and, having been a country banker, he was not afraid 
even to advocate a return to the State banks by reducing 
the prohibitive ten per cent. tax. But during the debates 
on this subject he made it clear that the basis of the na- 
tional circulation should be means for facilitating cur- 
rency in all parts of the country as needed. It was nearly 
forty years later when the views he advocated found ex- 
pression in the passage of the Federal Reserve Act. 

When the bill was reported from the Committee, Sen- 
ator Davis offered an amendment providing, in sub- 
stance, for free banking. Under date of March i8, 
1874, his journal recites that he made a speech on the 
finances which seemed to be well received. His views 
on the causes that lead to inflation are as pertinent to-day 
as they were in the year following the great panic. 
After reviewing in its historical aspect banking legisla- 
tion, he continued: 

''What is needed in our present currency is stability, a 
fixed value, and that measured by a standard recognized 
by the world. ... 

"Previous to the panic early in September last there 
was no one bold enough to say that there was not suffi- 
cient circulation for the trade and business of the coun- 
try; in fact, it was generally stated that there was too 
much paper money. Its abundance led to wild specula- 
tions, and particularly to the building of costly railroads 
in distant and wild countries far in advance of the wants 
of the people. The experience of all countries, particu- 
larly that of our own, teaches us that an abundance of 
paper money causes panics. The prospects of a healthy 
fall trade were never more encouraging than at the be- 
ginning of September last. None complained that there 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 63 

was not currency enough for all the business wants of 
the country. Like a thunder-shower in harvest-time the 
panic came ; all lost confidence ; banks and people held all 
the currency they had and got all they could, holding 
tight to it to sell at a premium, or fearing a demand that 
would be made on them. This caused a want of confi- 
dence which it has taken and will take time to restore. 
When it is fully restored, and a transfer made of part 
of the excess of bank circulation held in the North to 
the States of the South and West, I fully believe that a 
majority of the people will agree that we have paper 
money enough." 

Discussing the same subject and supporting his 
amendment to reduce the tax on the circulation of the 
State banks from ten per cent, to an amount equal to that 
paid by the national banks (one per cent.), he declared 
it would relieve the wants of the Southern and Western 
States by allowing them a local circulation. During the 
discussion of the various financial measures Senator 
Davis often spoke in aphorisms. 

Arguing against inflation, and citing the experience of 
the Confederate States he said: "The more abundant 
you make anything, the less valuable." Again : "What 
gives gold its value is that it costs about what it is worth 
to produce it ; make it as plentiful as brass or iron and it 
would no longer have its present value." And again: 
"You cannot legislate money into this or that place. . . . 
Money will find -the trade and business centers." 

The bill reported by Senator Sherman from the 
Finance Committee, as ultimately agreed upon by both 
branches of Congress, provided for an increase of the 
paper currency up to $400,000,000, with provisions for 
a reduction from that amount by retirement of the notes, 
to which interpretations were given to suit their own 



64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

views by those who favored more paper money and those 
who favored reducing the paper circulation. Senator 
Davis supported the legislation, and when, on April 22, 
President Grant's unexpected veto was received, he voted 
to override the veto. 

The act providing for the resumption of specie pay- 
ments on January i, 1879, was passed at the winter ses- 
sion of this Congress. Senator Davis, though not op- 
posed in principle to the bill, had some objections to its 
form, and he was one of the fourteen Senators who voted 
against it. In a later Congress he declared that resump- 
tion had come and was apparently working well, and 
consequently he was opposed to taking a backward step. 
"Do not let us go back," he said; "let us keep for- 
ward." 

It was during the Fifty-third Congress that Senator 
Davis found a congenial outlet for his constructive ten- 
dencies in connection with internal improvements. In 
his journal, under date of September 15, 1873, he says : 

I am a member of the Senate Select Committee on Transporta- 
tion. It consists of Hon. Wm. Windom, chairman; Conkling, 
New York ; Sherman, Ohio ; West, Louisiana ; Mitchell, Oregon ; 
Norwood, Georgia; Davis, West Virginia. We meet in New 
York City twice, and then go to the Lakes, Chicago, Wisconsin 
and Fox River, Richmond, Va., James and Kanawha canals. 
Next, Charleston, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and then home. Decem- 
ber vacation of Congress we go to New Orleans by way of At- 
lanta and Mobile. Go down Mississippi River to proposed St. 
Phillip Canal. Stay at New Orleans four or five days, then home 
by way of Jackson, Mississippi, Louisville, and Cincinnati. Re- 
turn home January 4th. 

These hearings excited great interest throughout the 
country. Senator Davis soon developed into one of the 
most influential members of the Committee. His inti- 



i 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 65 

mate knowledge of railroading and of the whole subject 
of transportation was quickly apparent in the pertinent 
inquiries he addressed to the various witnesses who ap- 
peared in advocacy of the projects which they thought 
essential to the development of their section of the coun- 
try. 

The report of this Committee was prepared by the 
chairman, Senator Windom. Its voluminous pages are 
still studied by students of the transportation problems 
of the present day. A sweeping conclusion as to the 
power to regulate commerce, embodied by the chairman 
in the report, was not in full harmony with the views of 
some of the members of the Committee, who were tra- 
ditionalists. Senator Davis joined with his Democratic 
colleagues, Senators Norwood and Johnson, the latter 
having been added to the committee, in a brief statement 
that they did not agree that Congress could exercise 
power to regulate commerce among the several States 
to the extent asserted. Senator Conkling also, while 
saying that he concurred in the main, dissented from cer- 
tain statements of law and of fact, and from the recom- 
mendations relative to the power of Congress and its 
exercise. 

The academic dissent from some of the general con- 
clusions did not prevent Senator Davis from giving most 
hearty support to the specific projects that received the 
indorsement of the Committee. In this matter he was 
not unmindful of the interests of West Virginia, and he 
was solicitous also for the interests of Baltimore and 
the Chesapeake Bay country. He believed that his own 
State had not received the consideration to which it was 
entitled in the River and Harbor legislation. He pressed 
on the Committee the value of the Great Kanawha River, 
and he secured the designation of the eminent Baltimore 



66 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

engineer, B. H. Latrobe, as the civilian member of the 
Committee appointed to report on the James River and 
Kanawha canals. 

He also secured an appropriation to begin the improve- 
ment of the river, the first appropriation ever voted by 
Congress for a West Virginia waterway, and the first 
step toward making the Great Kanawha the important 
transportation route it has since become. It was during 
the discussion of the project for the Hennepin Canal, 
joining the waters of the Great Lakes and the Illinois 
River with the Mississippi, that he declared the Chesa- 
peake and Delaware Canal to be on a par with the pro- 
posed Hennepin Canal. On other occasions he sought 
to secure recognition of Baltimore as one of the great 
Atlantic ports. 

In one of the debates on internal improvements and 
foreign commerce Senator Davis drew from the brilliant 
and erratic Senator Nye of Nevada a plea that convulsed 
the Senate. Senator Nye was advocating a bill provid- 
ing for a postal steamship subsidy between the Pacific 
Coast and Australia. Senator Davis moved the refer- 
ence of the bill from the Post Office Committee to the 
Committee on Commerce. The chairman of the latter 
Committee, it was known, was not favorable to the meas- 
ure. 

Senator Nye, somewhat inattentive to the routine pro- 
ceedings of the Senate, at first did not catch the import 
of the motion. When he did, he jumped up, exclaiming: 
"This bill of mine ? I have not time to attend its funeral 
to-day. [Laughter.] I hope that will not be done. 
You see the undertaker here in his seat, and I do not 
propose to be led to the shambles with this bill nolens 
volens." 

The signs of a political revolution throughout the 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 67 

nation were becoming clearer during the final session of 
the Forty-third Congress. As soon as adjournment 
was had, Senator Davis gave his whole attention to the 
campaign in his own State. The political developments 
are summarized in two entries in his journal : 

October 13, 1874. Our State election. Democrats made nearly 
a clean sweep in this and other States. We elected about 4-5ths 
of Legislature which elects a U. S. Senator. Also a full (3) 
delegation to House of Representatives. 

November 3. Twenty-three States voted to-day. Democrats 
make large gains, even carrying Massachusetts, electing Gov. 
Gaston and 4 or 5 members of House. N. Y. and Penna. go 
Democratic, which give Democrats House by 50 or 60 majority, 
and elects 10 or 12 Senators. 

When the Forty-fourth Congress met in December, 
1875, the House of Representatives, with its large Dem- 
ocratic majority, elected Michael C. Kerr, of Indiana, 
Speaker. The Democratic membership in the Senate 
was increased to 32, just twice what it had been when 
Mr. Davis entered the Senate. He now had a Demo- 
cratic colleague from his own State in the person of 
Allan T. Caperton, who had succeeded Senator Boreman. 
From the neighboring State of Maryland came his life- 
long personal and political friend, William Pinckney 
Whyte. Francis Kernan of New York, W. W. Eaton 
of Connecticut, and Joseph E. McDonald of Indiana, 
were among the other new Democratic Senators. A 
notable figure of the past emerging into political life 
again was former President Andrew Johnson of Ten- 
nessee. 

In this Congress Senator Davis returned to a subject 
to which he gave much attention through a great part of 
his Senatorial career. This was government bookkeep- 
ing and the forms of statement of the public debt. In 



68 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ^ 

the Forty-third Congress he had introduced a resolution 
requesting the Secretary of the Treasury to inform the 
Senate whether annual reports of the balances due the 
United States had been submitted since 1865, and if not 
why not. 

The purpose of this resolution may have been political, 
as was charged by the Republican leaders of the Senate, 
but Senator Davis insisted that the people were entitled 
to know 'Svho the defaulters were." The resolution was 
amended and passed, and a reply later was received from 
the Secretary of the Treasury which had little value to 
the inquirer. Following this effort Senator Davis sub- 
mitted a resolution for a committee to investigate the 
Treasury accounts. It was amended by directing the 
Finance Committee to make an investigation. Natu- 
rally, Senator Davis got little comfort from the report of 
the Committee, the majority of which was opposed to 
him politically. 

In the treatment of this subject the Senate had a taste 
of Mr. Davis's tenacity and of his persistence in follow- 
ing up a matter in which he was interested. Ultimately 
he got a hearing, and the Senate, while not fully agreeing 
with his charges, apparently did agree with his main 
contention, which was that the debt statements and all 
the statements in regard to government finances should 
be clear enough to be understood. Senator Davis's own 
views were set forth in detail during the running debate 
in the Senate in January, 1876, when he returned to the 
subject on different days. He had several colloquies 
with Senator Boutwell of Massachusetts, who had served 
as Secretary of the Treasury, and under whose adminis- 
tration some of the changes that were questioned had 
been made. His contention was summed up in this 
statement: 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 69 

*The largest railroad corporations, commercial and 
manufacturing establishments in the country whose ac- 
counts reach tens of millions when managed upon proper 
business principles, have no difficulty in making intelli- 
gible their books and being able to make a statement of 
the exact condition of their business at any time; and 
while I concede that the Government is on a larger scale, 
yet its management should be such that its financial af- 
fairs may be readily understood; and indeed the larger 
the operations the greater the necessity for rigid, prompt, 
and accurate accountability and careful and regular 
statements, which should always agree, and when once 
rendered should be, like the laws of the Medes and Per- 
sians, not subject to change." 

Senator Davis's own view of the subject, as it pre- 
sented itself to him at the time, is recorded in two brief 
entries in the journal : 

January 13, 1876. I make a speech on alterations, etc., in 
Treasury Department. I show many millions not accounted for. 
Ex-Secretary Boutwell replies. 

January 24. I reply to Ex-Secretary Boutwell and make some 
new charges. I sustain all I have said. 

There is reason to believe that in later years Senator 
Davis changed his views somewhat on this subject. 
Secretaries of the Treasury who were of his own polit- 
ical party, on their part, altered the methods of govern- 
ment bookkeeping, and of public debt statements, and 
were criticized in turn by their political opponents. But 
in his principal contention, that the statements of the 
Treasury accounts and the public debt should be clear 
enough to be understood, he was on solid ground from 
which he never retreated. 

The national campaign of 1876 occupied much of the 



70 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

attention of Senator Davis. As usual, he was one of 
the delegates from West Virginia to the Democratic 
National Convention, and he came back from Cincinnati 
believing that the prospects were very good for the elec- 
tion of Tilden and Hendricks. He corresponded with 
Tilden concerning the campaign. But, while interested 
in the national ticket, he was not unmindful of his own 
political fortunes. After the adjournment of Congress 
in August, he gave his whole time to the State. The 
subsequent events are thus recorded in his journal: 

August 31, 1876. I have looked over the State and many of my 
friends have written me. All agree that without a great change 
takes place I will be easily reelected to the Senate. My term ex- 
pires March 4, 1877. 

January 12, 1877. West Virginia Legislature met the loth at 
Wheeling. I go and stay three days. Mr. C. J. Faulkner and 
myself are the principal candidates for long term of the Senate. 
Herford and Brice for short to succeed Mr. Caperton, who died 
in July last. 

January 20. I return to Wheeling. Election for Senator takes 
place 23d. 

January 28. On the 27th, on fourth ballot, I was elected to 
Senate for six years from March 4, 1877, by a vote of 60 against 
2,7 scattering, of which Mr. Faulkner got 18. Herford was also 
elected on same day, next ballot after me. . . . 

There were 6 or 8 candidates for my place in the Senate. Most 
promising was Hon. C. J. Faulkner, Judge John Brannon, Hon. 
J. J. Davis, Judge L. D. Camden. Hon. J. N. Camden and his 
friends were for me ; also Governor-elect Mathews. I think Hon. 
Lewis Baker, editor of Register, did more to elect me than any 
other man. J. N. Camden next. There was no caucus nomina- 
tion. I was elected in joint session on fourth day and fourth 
ballot. There were 21 Republicans in Legislature. 20 voted for 
me, so I received 40 Democratic votes and 20 Republican. 

The fact that the Republican members, themselves 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 71 

being so greatly in the minority, preferred to honor Sen- 
ator Davis with their support rather than to compHment 
one of their own number, was a source of great grati- 
fication to him. It showed the warm feeling which the 
opposing party always held for him, notwithstanding the 
inevitable incidents of partizanship. 

In the exciting events at Washington following the 
disputed election between Tilden and Hayes, Senator 
Davis bore himself with his habitual moderation. He 
believed that Tilden had been elected President, and he 
voted for the Electoral Commission Bill in the expecta- 
tion that the Commission would so find; but that body 
having decided that Hayes was elected, he acquiesced in 
the decision, and counseled acquiescence on the part of 
others. 

His first term as a Senator of the United States was 
now ending. His six years' service had broadened his 
insight into national affairs, and had given him an ex- 
perience by which he was certain to profit during fur- 
ther service. In his own party, in the caucus and in the 
cloak-room councils, his influence had become very pro- 
nounced. Senator Thurman, on whom the burden of 
minority leadership had lain somewhat heavily, always 
turned to him when questions of party policy were to be 
determined. Other leaders who were heard most often 
on the floor in the exposition of party policy also coun- 
seled with him. 

Yet, while a strong party man. Senator Davis never 
failed to show the independence that was characteristic 
of a broad-minded public man. He had won the esteem 
of the dominant party, and its leaders, recognizing his 
enormous capacity for detail and his thorough study of 
every subject presented to him, frequently turned to him 



72 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 

for advice on matters of legislation that were not of a 
political character. With many of them, also, he had 
formed warm ties of personal friendship. Thus he was 
entering on his second term with every prospect of use- 
fulness and of increased influence. 





> 



Mir'M^:! 






■ 'J ^ 



■' .^i 



CHAPTER V 

SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES SECOND TERM 

Parties as affected by President Hayes's Administration — 
Remonetization of silver — Democratic majority in the Senate of 
the Forty-sixth Congress — New colleagues — Senator Davis as 
chairman of the Appropriations Committee — Advocacy of a De- 
partment of Agriculture — Modest provisions for the farmers — 
Camden as a colleague — Treasury accounts again — An unqualified 
protection Democrat— Defense of the tariff on coal — West Vir- 
ginia and debts of honor — Business reasons for declining a third 
term — Resolution of State Legislature — Resume of public ques- 
tions during twelve years' service — Growth of appropriations — 
James G. Blaine's tribute to Senator Davis. 

THE Senate of the Forty-fifth Congress was called 
in the customary extra session by President 
Hayes to confirm his Cabinet nominations and 
other appointments. The inauguration is thus briefly 
described in Senator Davis's journal: 

March 5, 1877. The 4th being Sunday, Hon. R. B. Hayes was 
inaugurated President, the Electoral Commission made by Con- 
gress having declared Hayes elected over Tilden by a majority of 
one electoral vote, 185 to 184. 

The Democratic membership of the Senate was fur- 
ther strengthened in this Congress. Among the new 
Democratic Senators were James B. Beck of Kentucky, 
William H. Barnum of Connecticut, Benjamin H. Hill 
of Georgia, L. Q. C. Lamar of Mississippi, Augustus H. 
Garland of Arkansas, J. R. McPherson of New Jersey, 
and Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana. Mr. Blaine, who 
had served in the Forty-fourth Congress to fill the va- 

73 



74 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

cancy caused by the death of Senator Lot M. Morrill, 
now entered upon the full senatorial term. Samuel J. 
Kirkwood entered from Iowa. George F, Hoar of 
Massachusetts, after several years' service in the House, 
now came to the Senate. Henry M. Teller appeared 
from Colorado, the Centennial State. David Davis of 
Illinois, having resigned from the Supreme Bench to ac- 
cept the Senatorship as an independent, thus breaking 
the deadlock, was one of the conspicuous members. 

When the House of Representatives organized, it still 
contained a large Democratic majority, and Samuel J. 
Randall was elected Speaker. Among the new members 
of the House were Thomas B. Reed of Maine and Wil- 
liam McKinley of Ohio. 

At the beginning of Senator Davis's second term many 
of the political questions that had been the means of 
welding the Democratic minority closely together no 
longer existed. There was still political legislation, but 
the era of Reconstruction and of the party measures 
growing out of it was ended. The new era was marked 
by the policy of conciliation toward the South instituted 
by President Hayes. The split this policy caused in the 
Republican party, and the bitterness of the factions that 
respectively sustained and opposed it, exceeded the bit- 
terness that had obtained in previous years when the two 
great parties were lined up against each other. These 
family quarrels of the Republicans had little effect on 
the legislative activities of Senator Davis. His per- 
sonal relations with several of the rival leaders at times 
enabled him to act as a mediator between them. This 
was the strongest evidence that could be given of the de- 
gree to which his personality had impressed itself on 
his colleagues. 

Senator Davis continued to serve on the Committee on 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 75 

Appropriations. Though not a member of the Finance 
Committee, he gave much attention to the work of that 
Committee in the form in which it came before the Sen- 
ate, sometimes joining with his colleagues of both par- 
ties to modify its recommendations, sometimes support- 
ing them, and occasionally rejecting them outright. 

The remonetization of silver was the leading financial 
question before the Forty-fifth Congress. The House 
passed the Bland Free Coinage Bill, the purpose of which 
was declared by its supporters to be to remedy "the 
crime of 1873" W which silver was demonetized. The 
Senate accepted the Allison Amendment, under which 
the coinage of not less than two million dollars and not 
more than four million dollars was provided per month. 
Senator Davis, before this bill came up, had been one 
of the forty-three Senators who voted for the resolu- 
tion ofifered by Stanley Matthews of Ohio, to the efifect 
that the bonds of the United States were payable in sil- 
ver. On the proposed remonetization he favored the 
Allison amendment, and spoke in support of it several 
times. 

The substance of his position was that he favored sil- 
ver because it was one of our chief products, would make 
the money known to the Constitution more abundant, 
would relieve distress, and would lead back to prosperity. 
He held that its remonetization was important to the 
laboring, the agricultural, the manufacturing, and the 
debtor classes. When President Hayes vetoed the 
•Bland-Allison bill, he stood by his original convictions 
and voted to pass it over the veto, which was done. 

It was during this silver debate that Senator Davis set 
forth his views on the relations between labor and capi- 
tal. In a sharp colloquy with Senator Sargent of Cali- 
fornia, he remarked, "The poor man appears to have 



y^i THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

found friends here." Continuing the debate, he said: 

"In the discussion of this question I do not find it 
necessary to reflect upon capital and labor. I am a 
friend of both — and have a good word and a kind feel- 
ing for each. By laws man cannot control they are and 
ought to be friends; they should go hand in hand; they 
are necessary to each other ; one cannot be well and the 
other sick. A nation cannot prosper for a long time 
when they are at war ; they may be arrayed against each 
other temporarily, but bad results are as sure to follow 
and continue until their natural harmony is restored. 
One depends upon prosperity and health upon the other. 
They should support and uphold each other; they have 
equal and the same right to protection." 

These were not mere academic expressions or the 
catch-words of a politician. They embodied the prin- 
ciple upon which Senator Davis as a capitalist, and for 
more than half a century a large employer, guided his 
relations with labor. 

In the Forty-sixth Congress the Democrats held the 
majority in the Senate as well as in the House, and thus 
were enabled to control the organization. Among the 
new Democratic Senators were George H. Pendleton of 
Ohio, George G. Vest and Francis M. Cockrell of 
Missouri, and John T. Morgan of Alabama. Senator 
Davis, by virtue of his service as a minority member of 
the Appropriations Committee, now that his party was 
in the majority, became the chairman of that committee. 

During the two years in which he served in this ca- 
pacity he observed the same practice that he had followed 
when in the minority. He believed in public economy, 
but not in parsimony. Politically he was opposed to the 
party that was in control of the national administration, 
and the scrutiny of its expenditures was a fair subject 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS ^-j 

for party capital ; but no department of the Government, 
in asking appropriations, had reason to feel that its 
proper requests would be denied. 

If the chairman of the Appropriations Committee de- 
claimed somewhat against extravagance and exhorted to 
economy, he had done the same thing when he was a 
minority member, and where it seemed that the growth 
of the Government justified increased expenditures in 
some directions he advocated them and sought to pro- 
vide for them. This was notably *the case in regard to 
what would now be called encouraging agriculture. 
That greater support should be given by the general gov- 
ernment to the development of agriculture had been one 
of his favorite themes. It was natural that the farmer 
boy of the Western Shore of Maryland who later had 
cleared the Alleghany wilderness, and whose farm at 
Deer Park filled so many entries in his journal, should 
take an interest in the farmers of the nation. 

Senator Davis loved the farm and farm life. He had 
introduced various resolutions and bills to encourage 
farming. One of these resolutions was presented at 
the spring session in 1878. Its text showed how little 
encouragement the agriculture of the country up to that 
time had received from Congress. There was a bureau 
or Department of Agriculture, with a Commissioner at 
its head and a few employes. This resolution called for 
the printing of three hundred thousand copies of the 
Agricultural Report. Congress made some provision 
for distributing seeds ; but in the course of the debate on 
the resolution Senator Davis, correcting Senator Sauls- 
bury of Delaware, who had spoken of five hundred thou- 
sand dollars as the appropriation made for agricultural 
purposes, explained that the amount was only two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars. 



78 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

At the December session he introduced another resolu- 
tion reciting that, since agriculture was the foundation 
of nearly all our wealth, and since it was mainly through 
the exportation of its products that we were paying off 
our large indebtedness, the Committee on Agriculture 
of the two Houses should investigate and report what 
could or ought to be done by the general Government the 
better to advance the agricultural interests. Previous 
to the introduction of this resolution he had corresponded 
with Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, who had, 
as he wrote to Senator Davis, talked a great deal and 
frequently -at agricultural fairs. Ultimately the resolu- 
tion was passed. 

In order to get the whole subject before Congress in 
a definite form. Senator Davis made a set speech. Un- 
der date of January 14, 1879, he records in his journal: 
*'I made in Senate an agricultural speech which is highly 
spoken of." In this speech he said: 

"We are a nation of farmers, and because of the vast 
area of our soil and its great fertility we must remain 
so. Our agricultural products not only support our peo- 
ple but pay for what we buy abroad. They furnish our 
greatest source of revenue — and to them we are indebted 
for the balance of trade now being largely in our favor 
and that our bonds and other indebtedness held abroad 
are so rapidly coming home." 

Continuing this line of thought, he analyzed the sta- 
tistics and showed that three fourths of the country's 
exports were agricultural products. 

In succeeding Congresses Senator Davis joined with 
Senator Windom in seeking to secure the establishment 
of a Department of Agriculture and Commerce. He 
introduced a bill for that purpose at several sessions. 
His final effort in behalf of agriculture was made in 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 79 

January, 1883, just a few weeks before his retirement, in 
a speech supporting his bill for the establishment of a 
Department of Agriculture. In this speech he com- 
pared somewhat humorously the numerical proportion 
of lawyers and farmers. He said that in both branches 
of Congress there were two hundred and fifty-two law- 
yers and sixteen farmers, counting himself as a farmer. 
This was in striking contrast to the House of Delegates 
of West Virginia in which he began his public life. As 
has been shown in the foregoing pages, there were one 
lawyer and twenty farmers in that body. 

At this session of the Senate Mr. Davis, as a member 
of the Appropriations Committee, was in charge of the 
Agricultural Appropriation Bill. It provided $60,000 
for seed, and $414,000 for administrative and other ex- 
penses. Senator Davis lived to see the modest appro- 
priation approximating half a million dollars, which 
marked the last stage of his Senatorial career, grow into 
an appropriation of $20,000,000 in 191 5, to support 
what has become one of the greatest departments of the 
Government of the United States, and all within a gen- 
eration. To his constructive mind, and to his sympathy 
with the farmer and his knowledge of the economic rela- 
tion of agriculture to national development, is due much 
of the credit for the creation of the Department of Agri- 
culture and the functions it performs in the Government. 

West Virginia politics and national politics were not 
neglected on account of Senatorial duties. Senator 
Davis took an active part in the West Virginia State 
campaign in 1878. Under date of September 24 he 
records in his journal : 'T make a speech at Grafton on 
the political situation of the country. It is printed in 
full in Wheeling Register, and in part in many of the 
papers of the State." Further entries relate to other 



8o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

speeches. The outcome is indicated in October in the 
statement that the Democrats have carried each of the 
Congressional districts, and a large majority in the Leg- 
islature. The majority of the Legislature was especially 
gratifying to Senator Davis. The reason for his grati- 
fication is indicated in a later entry in his journal: 

Hon. J. N. Camden has been elected U. S. Senator for West 
Virginia, term commencing March 4 for six years. I was for 
him and will be glad to have him for a colleague. 

Mr. Camden's career was in many respects similar to 
that of Senator Davis. He was a business man. Liv- 
ing at Parkersburg, he was one of the pioneers in the 
oil industry, and he did for the Ohio River counties what 
Senator Davis did for the mountain counties in develop- 
ing their resources and providing systems of transporta- 
tion. The two were associated with the campaigns fol- 
lowing the Civil War, under which the Democratic party 
through organization and leadership was enabled to gain 
control of the State. Their political association and 
their personal friendship continued until the death of 
Senator Camden. 

In 1880 Senator Davis headed the West Virginia 
delegation to the Democratic national convention at 
Cincinnati, which nominated Hancock and English. He 
did not, apparently, regard the ticket as a strong one. 

During the sessions of the Forty-sixth Congress Sen- 
ator Davis returned to the subject of the Treasury ac- 
counts. His party being in the majority, he was able to 
secure the appointment of a special comimittee of inves- 
tigation. John Sherman, who had been chairman of the 
Finance Committee when Senator Davis began his agita- 
tion for information, was now Secretary of the Treas- 
ury. The bookkeeping of the Department under him 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 8i 

was not criticized, but the report made by Senator Davis 
on behalf of the majority insisted that in previous years 
many erasures and changes had been made in the books, 
and that the systems of checks on officers handHng large 
sums of money was faulty. A minority report was pre- 
sented by Senators Ingalls and Dawes, in which the con- 
clusions of the majority were combated. Some years 
later the Treasury Department revised the entire system 
of bookkeeping, and introduced further safeguards, 
while at the same time simplifying the methods of book- 
keeping. From the beginning this simplification had 
been one of the principal contentions of Senator Davis. 

Senator Davis was a protection Democrat without 
apology and without qualification. A Henry Clay Whig 
in his earlier political life, this was perhaps a natural in- 
heritance; but, living in a State whose principal resources 
lay underground, and being himself an industrial cap- 
tain seeking to develop those resources, protection was 
a natural course of political action for him. Yet he 
was not extreme in his views, and he did not oppose re- 
duction in some of the schedules where the industries 
had been sufficiently fostered to stand this reduction. 

In the Forty-second Congress, when the internal rev- 
enue taxes were removed from fish, fruits, and meats, 
and the duties on tea and coffee were abolished, he also 
supported the reduction of ten per cent, on cotton, wool, 
iron, steel, paper, rubber, and glass products. In the 
Forty-sixth Congress he supported a tariflf amendment 
by Senator Bayard providing that the duty on wool 
should not exceed twenty-five per cent, ad valorem, and 
on woolen goods fifty per cent. 

The reasons that guided his support of protection as a 
principle and as a policy were set forth when coal, the 
chief product of his own State, came under review. The 



82 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Tariff Commission appointed by President Arthur in the 
bill it recommended had proposed to reduce the duty on 
coal. In the debates on this subject in January and Feb- 
ruary, 1883, Senator Davis reviewed the whole tariff 
question in its broad historial aspect — as well as in its 
local application. The Tariff Commission Bill proposed 
to reduce the duty on bituminous coal from seventy-five 
cents to fifty cents per ton. Senator Davis objected to 
this proposition, for one reason because other articles 
were reduced only ten per cent., while the proposed re- 
duction on coal amounted to thirty-three per cent. 

In the discussion he reviewed and justified his own 
stand as related to his personal interest. Senator Mor- 
gan of Alabama had declared that the protection prop- 
osition was a man voting a tax into his own pocket out 
of the people of Alabama to enrkh himself. 

Senator Davis, speaking with feeling, in reply said: 

"It is true that I am a coal-miner, and had been for 
many years before I knew the Senate, and I have con- 
tinued ever since. I, however, am one of a corporation 
in which there are perhaps one hundred people engaged. 
Every Senator here has voted on everything that has 
come up in the Senate when his people were interested 
regardless of his personal interest. I might as well say 
that the Senator from Texas, or any other Senator, when 
he votes for the duty on cotton, or any other thing, votes 
to put money in his own pocket. I do not choose to go 
into that ; I do not think it just or proper. . . . 

'T have uniformly voted for a fair protection, or what 
I believe to be a fair protection, for every interest that 
has come up for consideration. I have been unfortunate 
in disagreeing with a large majority of my friends on 
this side of the chamber. However, I am just as hon- 
est in my conviction that I am right as they are in theirs. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 83 

I heard it said — I suppose it was not intended for me — 
on some vote I gave here that I had better look out — 
'wait until coal comes up.' That is hardly a fair argu- 
ment. I do not regard it as a fair way of meeting a ques- 
tion, because a Senator happens to be interested in an 
industry, to retaliate on his vote on something else by 
the idea, 'when we get a chance we will punish him.' I 
have no such feeling towards others. I act upon each 
question as it arises, according to* my judgment of what 
is right in regard to it. . . . 

"I suppose I am interested to the extent of one ten 
thousandth part of the coal mines in this country. My 
interest in the question, I suppose, would not be greater 
than that, and yet Senators speak as if that would have 
weight with me; as if my course on this question was an 
exception to my general rule of action, as if coal was 
the thing above all others, as if sDme little personal feel- 
ing actuated me. I find Senators on this side of the 
house who are especially interested in some particular 
thing, and they vote and act for protection to that, and 
they vote against protection to everything else. . . . 
That course of conduct seems to go all around the cham- 
ber. It is not confined to this side altogether; and yet, 
when a man who has been consistent, and voted for every 
fair proposition, asks for a reasonable rate on a great 
product of his State, some Senators are kind enough to 
say, or choose to say, that that man owns an interest 
in a mine, I do own an interest in a mine, and I wish 
it distinctly understood that I do." 

In later years, as a private citizen, Mr. Davis pro- 
tested before the committees of Congress against the 
free coal proposition contained in the Wilson bill, the 
author of which was from his own State and district. 
Much later, in newspaper interviews, he voiced his ob- 



84 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

jections to the reduction of coal which was provided in 
the Canadian Reciprocity Agreement negotiated by 
President Taft. 

The debt of West Virginia was a topic of discussion 
and criticism at various periods during Senator Davis's 
service in the Senate. He had numerous colloquies with 
Senators Sherman, Hawley, Hoar, and Edmunds on the 
subject at different times. The New England Senators 
in particular were inclined to be critical, and he resented 
their attitude. In the several debates Senator Davis ex- 
plained his own action, when a member of the West 
Virginia Legislature, in seeking an adjustment of the 
question and particularly in providing for commissioners 
to go to Richmond to confer with Virginia officials. As 
to the action of members of the Senate in bringing up 
the subject. Senator Davis maintained that it was a local 
question and belonged to the two States respectively, and 
not to Congress. 

He reviewed the whole controversy in a speech de- 
livered early in May, 1881. In this speech, incidentally, 
he spoke of the resources of West Virginia, saying: 
"They are largely undeveloped as yet, the greater part 
of them lying dormant; but when the treasures of this 
mountain State are unearthed, as they must be in time, 
they will astonish the world." 

Referring to the proportion of the debt which the un- 
developed commonwealth that West Virginia was when 
it separated from the Old Dominion should pay, he 
asked: "Can you tax a mountain uninhabited at the 
same rate you would tax a valley well improved?" 

In this address Senator Davis made his famous de- 
liverance on debts of honor. "In my opinion," he said, 
"no individual, no firm, no corporation, no city, town, 
state or government can afford to ignore a just and hon- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 85 

orable debt. A State cannot do so even with as much 
propriety as an individual. The law can compel pay- 
ment by one ; in the case of the other it is a debt more of 
honor, and I believe it is the duty of every citizen of the 
State to do his full share to have his State, no matter 
whether it owes much or little, do its part, its honest 
part, its just part, its equitable part, toward the settle- 
ment and payment ot any debt it may owe, and so far as 
my voice goes it will always be in that direction. . . . 

"I think I am as much of a debt-payer as anybody, and 
I believe it is the duty of every State and every indi- 
vidual to pay a just and honorable debt, let it be what 
it may. I think that a man who wants to look the world 
squarely in the face and do his full duty will at all times 
— whether he is able to pay may be another question — 
at least answer and say, 'I owe and will pay when I 
can.' " 

Senator Davis had found public duties most agree- 
able. His two terms in the Senate had not caused him 
to tire of it, but the public service was made at some 
sacrifice to his growing business interests. These were 
not neglected, but necessarily they were secondary. 
Projects of industrial development which he had been 
maturing had now reached the stage where, if they were 
to be brought to their full fruition, they must have the 
first claim on him. Accordingly, he determined to retire 
from the Senate, although this did not mean his entire 
withdrawal from public life, for he expected to con- 
tinue his interest in public aflFairs, and did continue them 
thereafter, but principally as a private citizen. His de- 
termination to retire is thus set forth in his journal : 

November 20, 1882. I have for two or three years said I 
would not be a candidate for reelection to the Senate, and to 



86 JHE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

put all matters at rest I wrote and printed the following letter. 
I have no doubt of my election if I had been a candidate. 

The letter, which was addressed to the Wheeling Reg- 
ister, follows : 

Piedmont, W. Va., Nov. i8, 1882. 

I have recently received a number of letters and personal in- 
quiries from members of the Legislature elect, candidates for the 
United States Senate, and other friends, asking me if I would 
be a candidate for reelection and expressing their preference for 
me if such was my intention. To all such inquiries my general 
answer has been that for the past two or three years I have often 
said in public and private that I would not be a candidate for 
reelection. Business" is more agreeable to me than politics, and 
I am now engaged in lumbering, mining, banking, and farming; 
in connection with some friends who are capitalists living both in 
and out of the State, am constructing railroad Hnes running north 
and south through an undeveloped region, rich in mineral, tim- 
ber, and agricultural wealth, and intended when completed to 
connect with the Baltimore and Ohio and the Chesapeake and 
Ohio railroads. My ambition is to make a success of these en- 
terprises, especially the building of the railroads. These and 
other private matters are reasons which forbid my being a candi- 
date for reelection. 

In the many trusts heretofore confided to my keeping I have 
always endeavored to do my full duty, and I thank the people of 
the State, and especially my friends, for the political honors that 
have been conferred upon me. 

The West Virginia Legislature unanimously adopted a 
resolution showing the appreciation in which Senator 
Davis was held by all parties. Its text, which is worthy 
of preservatiion, follows: 

Whereas, Honorable Henry G. Davis will conclude on the 4th 
of March next his second term as a Senator of the United States 
from West Virginia, and, having declined to be a candidate for 
reelection, will then voluntarily retire from the Senate, therefore 
be it 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 87 

Resolved: That a legislative acknowledgment and public ex- 
pression of thanks is justl} due unto an honored and well tried 
public servant, and that, in accordance with what we believe to 
be the sentiment of the people of West Virginia, not restricted to 
the limits of one political party, we do hereby declare that by his 
devotion to the public service at all times, and especially to the 
interests of West Virginia, the Honorable Henry G. Davis has 
justly earned the gratitude of his constituents, and in the respect 
and good will of the people of the State he will find reward for a 
career of honesty, capability, and energetic endeavor in the public 
service. 

The two terms of Senator Davis in the Senate included 
six years of President Grant's administration, all that 
of President Hayes, the brief period of President Gar- 
field's, and a part of President Arthur's term. When 
he entered the Senate political and partizan issues, echoes 
of the sectional struggle, were the vital questions. When 
he retired, the Reconstruction measures were no longer 
an issue. The menace of a second civil war growing 
out of the disputed election of 1876 had been settled 
peaceably, and, though its echoes were still heard, these 
had little influence on the course of legislation. Specie 
payments had been resumed, and the silver question had 
been settled, as it was then thought, for good. For- 
eign relations, which were threatening in consequence of 
the dispute with England over the Alabama claims, had 
been rendered friendly through the Geneva Arbitration. 
Chinese immigration, as an economic problem, had first 
appeared on the horizon, and President Hayes had vetoed 
the bill passed to prohibit it. Congress had begun sys- 
tematically to develop the rivers and harbors as part 
of the transportation system of the country, although the 
appropriations for that purpose were still modest. 

The growth of the Government was shown in the 
provisions made for the annual appropriations. Dur- 



88' THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ing Senator Davis's first year's service in the Senate, 
when the population of the country was forty millions, 
the revenues had amounted approximately to $365,000,- 
000 yearly, of which a little more than $1 17,000,000 was 
applied to interest on the public debt and a fraction over 
$176,000,000 to the regular appropriations. The pen- 
sion appropriation amounted to $28,500,000 annually, 
and of this sum $240,000 was for pensioners of the War 
of 18 1 2. The appropriation for the Army was $27,- 
700,000, and for the Navy fractionally less than $20,- 
000,000. The Post Office appropriation amounted to 
$26,000,000. 

For the fiscal year 1883-84, the last one for which 
Senator Davis helped to provide as a member of the Ap- 
propriations Committee, the annual appropriations were 
$230,200,000. Of this amount, approximately $24,750,- 
000 was for the Army and $16,000,000 for the Navy. 
The appropriation for pensions had amounted to $100,- 
000,000. The population was now 55,000,000, and the 
internal and customs revenues were approximately $362,- 
000,000 annually. 

Of the party colleagues with whom he served in the 
earlier years, there remained in the full vigor of life and 
of active public service Senator Bayard, one of the lead- 
ers of the sixteen Democratic Senators when the Forty- 
second Congress met in March, 1871. Among those 
who had entered since that time, several of whom had 
become his closest friends, were Blaine and Allison. 
His cousin, Arthur Pue Gorman, and Benjamin Harri- 
son had entered the Senate in the Forty-seventh Con- 
gress. 

To one of these colleagues it was given to form the 
estimate of Henry G. Davis as a public man. This was 
James G. Blaine. The estimate was of Mr. Davis as he 



THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 89 

entered the Senate, and also as he left it. In his 
'Twenty Years of Congress," in reviewing the members 
of the Forty-second Congress, Mr. Blaine wrote : 

Henry G. Davis, a native of Maryland, entered as the first 
Democratic Senator for West Virginia. His personal popularity 
was a large factor in the contest against the Republicans in his 
State, and was instantly rewarded by his party as its most influen- 
tial leader. Mr. Davis had honorably wrought his own way to 
high station, and had been all his life in active affairs as a farmer, 
a railroadman, a lumberman, an operator in coal, and a banker. 
He had been uniformly successful. He came to the Senate with 
the kind of practical knowledge which schooled him to care and 
usefulness as a legislator. He steadily grew in the esteem and 
confidence of both sides of the Senate, and when his party ob- 
tained the majority he was intrusted with the responsible duty of 
the chairmanship of the Committee on Appropriations. No more 
painstaking or trustworthy man ever held the place. While firmly 
adhering to his party, he was at all times courteous, and to the 
business of the Senate or in local intercourse never obtruded 
partizan views. 

Senator Davis's own valedictory to his Senatorial 
career was characteristically simple. It appears in this 
entry in his journal: 

March 4, 1883. My second term in U. S. Senate ended yes- 
terday. I declined a reelection. Hon. J. E. Kenna succeeded me. 
... I intend to devote most of my time to the interests of the 
West Va. Central Co. both building road, mining, and selling coal. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE RAILWAY BUILDER 

East-and-west trunk lines through West Virginia — Unde- 
veloped regions between the north and south systems — The Davis 
projects — His own story of prospecting trips — Early expeditions 
into the forest wilderness — Timber observations — Exploring un- 
known coal-fields — Surveys for West Virginia Central Railway — 
Planning the route — Notable statesmen and capitalists enlisted in 
the enterprise — Horseback trip to White Sulphur Springs — Open- 
ing of the line in 1881 — Industrial communities created — Contem- 
porary account of the railway and the region it developed — Con- 
troversy with the Baltimore and Ohio — Making the system 
independent. 

RAILWAY projects are not conceived overnight; 
they grow in the minds of those who originate 
and carry them through. They are based on 
knowledge of the resources that are to be developed and 
on faith in the returns to be received from developing 
these resources. They are, in one sense, the product of 
environment, and they reflect that environment. There 
is, however, a substantial difference in the nature of the 
projects, and this difference is nowhere more apparent 
than in the mountainous regions that are to be opened 
up to trade and industry. 

Trunk lines, and in particular east-and-west trunk 
lines, have been the normal course of railway develop- 
ment in the United States. In the case of West Vir- 
ginia the geographical situation made this especially the 
natural course of transportation. The Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad, which brought the Ohio and Mississippi 

90 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 91 

valleys and the Great Lakes to tidewater, was the north- 
ern route, and when it reached Wheeling in 1853, the 
observation was made that the roughest region yet tra- 
versed by an internal improvement in America was that 
between Cumberland and the Ohio River. 

The southern route, following principally the old 
James River and Kanawha turnpike, was evolved after 
the Civil War into the Chesapeake and Ohio system. 
Its difficulties, financial and otherwise, were not unlike 
those of the Baltimore and Ohio; but gradually they 
were surmounted, and there was a trunk line from tide- 
water at Norfolk and Newport News to the lower Ohio 
Valley and to the Mississippi Valley. 

A vast region lay between these northern and south- 
ern trunk lines, easterly and westerly, which could be 
developed only by lines that would connect with them 
and that would also secure access for the coal and tim- 
ber to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi and to tide- 
water. Railways that had financial difficulties in pro- 
viding a main system are slow to strike boldly out and 
build feeders. They construct branch lines cautiously 
and conservatively. It is their preference to leave to 
the enterprise of individuals the building of new lines, 
whose traffic they will handle without the initial cost of 
construction added to their own financial burdens. 

In this manner most of the internal development of 
West Virginia has been secured. "The largest chapter 
in the history of the State," wrote Professor James Mor- 
ton Callahan in his " Semi-Centennial History of West 
Virginia," "is that relating to the great industrial awak- 
ening which had its origin largely in the increasing de- 
mand for timber, coal, oil, and gas, and was especially 
influenced by the inducements for the construction of 
railroads." 



92 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

No man in the history of the State of West Virginia 
fills a fuller page in this large chapter than Henry G. 
Davis, and no man did more to supply the deficiency in 
transportation facilities resulting from the conservative 
policy of the trunk lines. He realized more thoroughly 
than anyone else of his day the possibilities of the State, 
especially the region lying southwest of Piedmont, the 
upper Potomac and Elk Garden regions. He also real- 
ized that the vast natural resources of the coal and tim- 
ber counties might lie untouched by man forever unless 
transportation to the outside world should be provided. 

His early purchases of coal and timber lands on the 
upper Potomac were adjacent to the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, and an ordinary man would have been content 
to reap the gains from his foresight in purchasing those 
lands. But Mr. Davis was not an ordinary man. After 
having developed the Piedmont and New Creek region, 
and then having opened the wilderness on the crest of 
the Alleghanies, his vision swept a wider horizon, and 
the conception came to him of building the railway line 
along the banks of the Potomac to the source of the sum- 
mit of the mountains, and continuing beyond into the 
valleys on the western slope of the Alleghanies. 

It was this conception that found expression in the 
charter for the Piedmont and Potomac Railway, which 
ultimately developed into the West Virginia Central 
and Pittsburgh Railway. In the northern counties of 
the State, and particularly the upper Cheat and Tygarts 
Valley country, was a wilderness of timber underlaid 
with coal. Some estimate could be made of the worth 
of the timber, but no one could estimate the value of the 
coal that lay beneath the surface. That was purely a 
venture. The region was almost inaccessible and very 
sparsely populated in consequence of the lack of means 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 93 

of communication. The most that the local communi- 
ties had sought in the way of opening their resources 
was to improve the turnpikes. A proposition to con- 
struct a double-track tramway fifty miles in length was 
looked on as extravagant. 

Mr. Davis had familiarized himself with every square 
mile of this wild country. He had traversed it on foot 
and on horseback, always with the observing eye of an 
engineer and of a pioneer lumberman and mining pros- 
pector. A trained geologist could not have done better 
in locating coal deposits. Some of the entries in his 
journal afford vivid evidence of the manner in which he 
determined the feasibility of the railway project. They 
also give a deep insight into the habits of mind that 
formed the basis of his success, while they afford more 
than a passing glimpse of pioneer exploring and of in- 
difference to its hardships. Here is the account of one 
of his prospecting trips : 

Aug. i6, 1869. Bro. Thomas and myself start on a trip at 
Canaan. Stop first night at Greenland. Mr. M. D. Neul and 
Abraham Smith go with us. Go to Corners from there, to i 
creek; stay all night with Cap Lamberts. On 19th on east side 
of mountain to Gouldigen ; he goes with us to vein of coal ; it 
shows about four feet ; think it is 6 feet. If we were to go again 
think the best way would be to go first to Greenland; there to 
Gouldigen. We went up the Creek to coal ; found several veins, 
ours about 6 feet. It shows several small slates. Return to New 
Creek ^ by Greenland on 20th and come to Deer Park same day. 

In his journal, under the heading "Look at Anderson 
and Clancy Pine," is a detailed account of a timber pros- 
pecting trip, which shows how thorough were the 
methods of Mr. Davis in his reconnaissances: 

^New Creek was later named Keyset. 



94 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Oct. 28, 1872. Left Piedmont horseback. Met Jesse W. 
Clanny at Morrison's Mill. Went to take a look at Anderson, 
Clanny and Wilson timber on Savage and tributaries. 

Went to Swager's Mill; found good timber about there. Mill 
is on horse pond. Run about four miles from junction with Sav- 
age; run very crooked. Pine timber on creek is about half a 
mile wide and three long; not much near Savage. Went from 
Swager's to Clanny's Mill ; is on Big Blue Lick Run. A Mr. 
Jacobs has 75 or 80 acres of No. i pine near Swager's. Good 
farming country between Swager's and Clanny's, not much pine. 
Staid Clanny's all night. John C. lives with old man and attends 
to mill. 

October 29. Leave Clanny's house and mill, walk down Big 
Blue Lick and up Little B. Lick. Not much timber except hem- 
lock near Clanny's mill, in fact bottoms on Runs are hemlock ; on 
side of hills, white pine. Clanny has 2,000 acres in all, has about 
700 acres on Little Blue Lick tolerable good pine, considerable 
hemlock, say one half each, would not give much for any but 
700 acres. 

Mr. Anderson has, I would think, 1,000 or 1,200 acres of white 
pine and three times as much hemlock. 

Clanny's Mill on Blue Lick about 23^ miles from junction of 
Savage and mile from Little Blue Lick. Clanny's Mill about 12 
miles from Mount Crabtree or railroad junction. Blue Lick 
about 7^ miles from road. Water sawmills on Mr. Anderson's, 
Sy2 miles. Horse pond run, 6^ miles. Not much timber from 
horse pond run to railroad. Tram could be easily made down 
Savage by crossing Savage about four times. Lochiel or Wil- 
son's is above Clanny's on Savage, do not think much of it. Ar- 
rived house with Mr. Clanny about 5 o'clock. 

A further inspection of the timber in the Savage dis- 
trict was made September 20, 1877: 

Billy Davis, John Riely, Gen. Anderson, agent and myself go 
to Swager's Mill for the purpose of evamining pine timber. 

There but little good timber near Savage ; it is on headwaters of 
the small streams running into Savage. We carefully examined 
Horse Pond run, Poplar Run, on which is Swargen's Mill (from 
Savage to foot of Meadow Mountain). No timber worth nam- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 95 

ing for 3 or 4 miles from Savage. A tract of land belonging to a 
Mr. Ross called Brantz Mill seat crosses the run about 2^ miles 
from Swager's Mill and 4 miles from Savage, takes about 50 
acres of good timber, then for a mile up there is but little timber, 
then there is a body of from one to two hundred acres good white 
pine. This is from near Mrs. Otto's to Swargen's land and say a 
mile on creek. 

Above Swargen's on Horse Pond Run there is from 100 to 150 
acres of good timber. This takes us to foot of Meadow Moun- 
tain and makes in all belonging to General Anderson say 300 to 
350 acres of good pine on Horse Pond Run. 

On Elk Lick Run, from what is known as Gov. Thomas' farm 
to Barton road within mile of Savage there is a body of say 250 
acres of good pine timber, and between Barton road on one side 
and Broad Water on the other there is probably 400 acres of land, 
250 well timbered ; from Thomas' place by this run to Savage is 
estimated at 4 miles. Upon the whole, there is not as much tim- 
ber on Savage and run as I supposed. 

A coal-prospecting trip in the region where he was 
planning the railway line is thus described : 

November 9, 1874. I returned from a trip to Tucker, Ran- 
dolph and Barbour Counties. Went to look at coal deposits of 
which much has been said. 

I find on Roaring Creek at or near Crawford Scott's and I. 
K. Scott's a vein of coal open in several places; the vein from 
top to bottom is about 11 feet, about 21/ feet top and bottom of 
coal, then a slate from i to 2 on this, and about 6 feet of piece 
or good coal in center. I do not think it the vein of this region 
or Pittsburgh ; it looks more like the Meyersville or Connellsville 
and Uniontown vein. 

A later excursion is told of in this manner : 

December i, 1875. Owen Reader and myself left Piedmont 
this morning to look at and examine new coal fields lately dis- 
covered or opened on Stony River and Difficult Creek. Staid all 
night at Mrs. Lee's. Found near northwestern road and on and 
near Difficult Creek two veins of coal, one full 4 feet on turnpike, 



96 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

one 7 or 7^ on Difficult one half mile below road. I take those 
two veins to be over 3^ and 6 feet, improved in quality and thick- 
ness ; they are about right distance apart. 

Below Rhiners on Stony River and about midway between 
Stony River Falls and N. W. Road an 8 foot vein, say 2 feet of 
coal, then slate 4 inches, then 4 feet of coal, then small slate coal ; 
very good in appearance, comes out in long regular pieces, finger 
shape. This is unlike other coal here, but like Connellsville coal. 

Several excursions in later years reflect the thorough 
manner in which the resources of the districts along the 
proposed line were studied. Here are two of them : 

July 5, 1881. Mr. Elkins and myself leave Deer Park on horse- 
back to examine country around and about Fairfax Stone; also 
on backwater of Cheat River. We find the timber very fine; 
some cherry and ash ; mostly spruce and hemlock. Coal indica- 
tions are very good, several veins open, one near Dobbin House 
of almost 8 feet pure coal. We stay at Dobbin House overnight, 
no one lives there. We had blankets with us, made pillows out 
of our saddles ; gone three days. George Musser showed us 
where he and Brant opened 200 yds., east road going to Fairfax 
Stone on Levering land, five veins in same hill next to Potomac. 
One vein near top hill about 8 feet, thirty feet below, 4 foot vein 
fifty below that vein appears 7 feet and two small veins below. 
On same ridge and mile or more east Riordon opened vein about 
8 feet above, five feet without stone. Near Dobbin House (old 
one) say one and one half miles north, or this side of new house, 
Riordon opened vein almost 8 feet thick; looks black, pure and 
good, little or no slate in it. This is the best vein I have seen, 
pitches east, and appears to underlay a large body of land mostly 
ours. Parsons is now making survey for our road near or in this 
region. 

Public service in the Legislature of West Virginia and 
in the United States Senate had not entirely diverted 
Senator Davis from his development enterprises. It 
was during this period that his investments in coal and 
timber lands were expanded, the railway project for the 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 97 

line to the southwest of Piedmont conceived, matured, 
and its construction begun. In the meantime his finan- 
cial standing had been strengthened and his position in 
the business world had extended beyond the local com- 
munities. His political activities had brought him into 
contact with men who were known nationally and the 
identification of whom with any enterprise was certain 
to secure for it public confidence. 

In these circumstances, toward the end of his second 
term he was able to secure the necessary financial sup- 
port, and the company was formed to build the West 
Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway. Augustus 
Schell, a sachem of the Tammany society and an impor- 
tant figure in financial as well as political afifairs, in New 
York, had met Mr. Davis at several of the Democratic 
national conventions, and there had grown up a warm 
friendship between them. Schell agreed to place part 
of the bonds of the proposed railway. William H. Bar- 
num, the Connecticut capitalist who had served for a 
brief period as a colleague of Mr. Davis, also interested 
himself. 

Several of the Senators with whom he was on terms 
of closest intimacy became stockholders. Among these 
were James G. Blaine, Thomas F. Bayard, J. N. Cam- 
den, William Pinckney Whyte, and William Windom. 
Stephen B. Elkins had been associated with Mr. Davis 
from the time that he had transferred his residence from 
New Mexico to the East. Jerome B. Chafifee, who 
served in the Senate from Colorado, and who had been 
associated with Mr. Elkins in business enterprises in 
the Southwest, joined the syndicate. Senator Arthur 
Pue Gorman was heavily interested. There were also 
several Baltimore capitalists, among them John A. Ham- 
bleton, the head of a great banking house, William Key- 



98 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ser, prominent both in Maryland politics and in railway 
affairs, and Major Alexander Shaw. It is doubtful 
whether any railroad in the country at any time had so 
many men prominent in public life and in finances on 
the Board of Directors as had the West Virginia Central 
Railway. They were there because of their confidence 
in Henry G. Davis. 

That the ideas of some of the statesmen identified with 
the enterprise as to the best methods of financiering were 
not always in accordance with the plans of the originator 
of the railway, appears in a letter from Mr. Blaine in 
which he said : 

I had a long talk with Elkins yesterday. It is my belief that 
you have adopted the hardest mode of raising money for the rail- 
•road. I wish I could talk with you personally for an hour in re- 
gard to the matter. 

Mr. Blaine apparently had the opportunity for an 
hour's talk; but, so far from convincing Mr. Davis, he 
was himself convinced that the plan adopted was not 
the hardest, for there is no further reference in the cor- 
respondence to his views. 

The manner in which the route for the railway was 
worked out, with proper regard for the resources that 
were to furnish traffic, is disclosed in several journal en- 
tries. Their nature is indicated in the following one : 

October i, 1880. Mr. Elkins, Mr. Randolph, Tom [brother] 
and myself made a trip to Elk Garden, to examine our coal and 
other property, and the best way for our railroad and inclined 
plane to go and take out the big and other vein coal. 

1. We examine three routes, one running on top of hill and 
down to river about one mile above Deep Run. 

2. Next route is through Mrs. Dixon's to Weasmans, and make 
inclined plane through Weasman to Deep River near Cranberry 
Run. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 99 

3. From big vein coal at our opening No. i by way of Barber's 
Ridge to Deep Run ; plane will come down to Deep Run about 
two and one half miles from Potomac. 

The last-named is my choice of routes ; it comes out on our 
land, has a No. i place to land, and enables us to open small 
veins. Distance on all the routes is about the same. 

We were pleased with our trip, and think we have a great 
future to that coal and lumber region. 

When the construction work was well under way, Mr. 
Davis invited some of his associates to make a horseback 
trip with him over part of the route, and beyond to 
White Sulphur Springs, which he expected to reach ulti- 
mately by extensions of the line. The journey was filled 
with fruitful incidents and was not lacking in some hard- 
ships for the travelers ; it is all summed up succinctly in 
a page in the journal entries : 

July 19, 1881. Senators Bayard, Camden, Secretary Windom, 
Maj. Shaw, Baker, Elkins and myself, etc. We had with us Con- 
roy for guide and John as waiter. Took blankets and provisions 
to camp out. We left Deer Park and on the tenth day arrived 
at White Sulphur. Went first night from Deer Park to look at 
coal opening near Fairfax Stone. Staid all night at the engineer's 
hut on Dobbin Road. Sleep on small boards with saddles for pil- 
lows. Next day through Canaan Valley and Meade's Corners 
that night. Next day to 20th. Staid over night at Mullinix's on 
Dry Fork. We had trout for supper, breakfast, dinner. 

22d. Staid over night at Mrs. Hill's ; this is near divide be- 
tween waters of Dry Fork and Laurel Falls of Cheat and Green- 
brier. This is a fine bluegrass country, and at east end of Rich 
mountain, the highest point above tidewater, we christened Mount 
Bayard in honor of the noble Delaware Senator. 

23d. We stopped for the night at what is known as Trav- 
eler's Repose on Greenbrier River and Stanton and Parkersburg 
Pike. Country tolerably good. 

24th. We stop over night at Major Isaac Moore's near Dun- 
more, Pocahontas County. 



100 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

25th. Stay over night at Huntersville, County seat of Poca- 
hontas County. This is a fair country. We passed through some 
fair pine timber, and what appears to be good iron ore. The 
country from Traveler's Repose to White Sulphur is a remark- 
ably good country to make a railroad through. 

26th. About night we arrive at White Sulphur Springs. All 
well pleased with our trip. 

There were not only the coal resources being de- 
veloped. More easily available, as the foundation for 
industry and traffic, were the timber resources. A large 
part of Tucker County was absolutely a primeval wilder- 
ness. The flat top of the mountain at an elevation of 
3,000 feet was covered by almost impenetrable forests. 
It was literally true that until Mr. Davis began his pros- 
pecting and his engineering surveys a great part of this 
tangled wilderness never had been penetrated by man, 
not even by the aboriginal savages. There were no 
trails. The interlacing rhododendrons and laurels be- 
neath, and the interwoven vines and saplings above, ren- 
dered the wealth of spruce and hemlock valueless until 
trails were hewed and blazed by the woodmen. 

Blazing the trails was in itself a work of extraordinary 
difficulty, but the very density of the forest gave a stim- 
ulus to conquering it. There were the spruce and the 
hardwoods first to be opened by the ax, then to be sub- 
jected to the sawmill, and later to furnish the material 
for the great pulp and paper mills. In the heart of this 
region on the plateau was laid out the town of Davis, 
which at one time was selected as the terminal for the 
railway. Later this plan was abandoned, and a branch 
line was run from the main stem at the station of 
Thomas, where were located the coke-ovens. 

The first section of the railway, that to the Elk Gar- 
den coal-fields, was opened early in November, 188 1. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS loi 

It was a momentous event for the whole region, but it 
is described with customary brevity in the journal en- 
tries : 

November 2, 188 1. We formally open our new road (W. Va. 
C. & P.)- We leave Cumberland at eight o'clock by way of 
Cumberland & Pennsylvania Road, come to Piedmont, then to 
our junction (one mile), then up over our road to Elk Garden. 
Day fine. We are mining coal; all passes off well. Senator 
Bayard, Governor Hamilton, Major Shaw, Hon. S. B. Elkins, 
Mr. Kerens, C. P. Bayard, J. A. Hambleton, etc., accompany us. 

November 3. Hambleton, Kerens, Shriver and Randolph, the 
latter two representing Baltimore American and Sun, made a trip 
part in wagon, balance horseback, to headwaters Potomac and 
Black Water. We returned to Deer Park Saturday well pleased 
with our trip. Coal and timber is even beyond our expectation. 

In 1884 the railway had been extended to the site of 
the town of Davis, which within a year had become the 
center of important mining and lumber industries. The 
main stem was thereafter pushed forward, with some 
short branches to the mines, until the terminal point 
which had been decided on in Tygart's Valley, in the 
heart of Randolph County, was reached, and the creation 
of a thriving little city was begun. The successive steps 
in the construction of the railway have been well de- 
scribed by Professor James Morton Callahan in his 
"Semi-Centennial History of West Virginia." Though 
they are principally of local interest, they have a direct 
bearing on railway development in West Virginia. Pro- 
fessor Callahan's account is as follows : 

The construction of a railroad from Piedmont up the North 
Branch to tap the undeveloped resources of Randolph County was 
proposed long before it was accomplished. The Potomac and 
Piedmont Coal and Railway Company, incorporated by the Leg- 
islature in 1866, and begun in 1880, secured a new charter in 
1881 in its new name, the West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh 



102 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Railway Company, which was organized with H. G. Davis as 
President. Passing over the divide beyond the headwaters of 
the Potomac, the new road continued south of the Great Back- 
bone Mountains to Davis in the heart of the hardwood forests 
by November, 1884. Early in 1889 the main line of the road, 
following the waters of the wild and picturesque Black Water 
Run, was completed down the Dry Fork through the mountain 
gap to Parsons on the main branch of the Cheat; and later in the 
year, after turning up Shaver's Fork for a short distance, it 
crossed Leading Creek and reached picturesque Elkins (pre- 
viously known as Leadsville), whch was established as a town 
with terminal facilities, and has had a steady growth, partly due 
to the proximity of the inexhaustive Roaring Creek coal-fields. 
From Elkins by gradual extensions one branch followed up the 
Valley River, sending off a smaller branch at Roaring Creek, 
five miles west of Elkins, and another returned eastward to 
Shaver's Fork, which it ascended, until finding a way through 
Shaver's Mountain crossed to Glady Fork, ascended it to the 
divide, and descended the west fork of the Greenbrier to Durbin, 
in Pocahontas. ... By 189 1 trains were running on extension 
to Beverly and to Belington, where connection was made with a 
Tygarts Valley branch of the Baltimore and Ohio from Grafton. 
By 1904 connections were made at Durbin. 

The new road, after passing through Mineral and Grant coun- 
ties, penetrated the vast coal-fields of Tucker and Randolph. It 
carried into the silence of the pine-needle woods the hum of 
modern industry, and expressed its material usefulness in gigantic 
lumber plants and rich coal-mines and in newly made and grow- 
ing towns — living monuments to men such as Windom, Blaine, 
Gorman, Bayard, Wilson, Fairfax, Douglass, Hendricks, and 
Elkins. The opening of mineral and timber resources created 
towns such as Bayard, Thomas, Davis, Douglass, Hendricks, 
Bantz, and Parsons in Tucker; such as Montrose and Elkins in 
Randolph; and such as Belington in Barbour. Bayard received 
its earliest stimulus from the large Buffalo Lumber Company 
and the Middlesex Leather Company. Another factor in its 
growth was the North Branch Coal and Coke Company, whose 
principal office was located there. At Thomas were located the 
large Davis-Elkins Coal and Coke Works, Six miles eastward, 
on the branch from Thomas, the coal works and manufacturing 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 103 

industries, together with a tannery and lumber plant, soon sup- 
ported a population of 1,500, forming the town of Davis, with 
quite a mercantile trade increased by that of the surrounding 
country. Elkins, located in a lovely valley bordering the north- 
western bank of Tygarts Valley River, received its first stimulus 
to growth by the construction of engine and car shops by the rail- 
way company, and the erection of homes for many operatives of 
the road. 

The completion of the railroad through the timber to Davis and 
beyond furnished an outlet for the timber in the eastern and 
central sections, admitting portable and stationary sawmills which 
have since continued to operate. Everywhere temporary rail- 
roads were forced into the heart of the woods, followed by saw- 
mills, tanneries, pulp-mills, and lumber-camps to aid in the cam- 
paign of conquest and destruction of the previously unmolested 
forests. 

The conception of the railway originally had been 
perhaps that of an adjunct to the Baltimore and Ohio, 
with which Mr. Davis had been so closely identified for 
more than a third of a century. His close personal rela- 
tions with the officials of that road, and in particular with 
Mr. John W. Garrett, who was then the president of the 
company, assured cooperation and friendly traffic ar- 
rangements. 

After President Garrett's death some changes in man- 
agement resulted in a less friendly policy on the part of 
the controlling interests. They made Mr. Davis feel 
that, since the West Virginia Central was dependent on 
the Baltimore and Ohio for its outlet, he must accept 
whatever traffic terms they chose to make. Baltimore 
and Ohio officials of a previous generation would not 
have taken this arrogant attitude, for they knew the 
man with whom they would have to deal ; but the newer 
element apparently did not know. They soon learned. 

The West Virginia Central's connection with the Bal- 
timore and Ohio was at Piedmont. At Cumberland, 



104 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 

thirty miles beyond, connection could be had with the 
Pennsylvania system and with the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Canal. Almost before the Baltimore and Ohio knew it, 
a right of way had been secured along the Potomac and 
the extension of the West Virginia Central to Cumber- 
land was begun. The building of the line was bitterly 
fought by the Baltimore and Ohio in the courts, and 
even physical obstructions to the working parties on the 
line were resorted to. This kind of obstruction did not 
stop men who had absorbed the spirit of the determined 
man for whom they were working. The courts also de- 
cided the litigation in his favor, and ultimately the West 
Virginia Central had a through line to Cumberland, thus 
relieving the Davis interests of further dependence on a 
single line of railway for their outlet to the market. 
Having secured the benefits of competition, Mr. Davis 
resumed friendly relations with the Baltimore and Ohio, 
but on a different basis from that which obtained when 
his company had been dependent on it. 

Some extensions and branches that were built on his 
own account later were merged into the system. For a 
quarter of a century he was the president of the West 
Virginia Central system and contributed potently to the 
growth of the region which when he began its conquest 
was open to civilization only by scattered farms in the 
narrow valleys. This was the work of the Railway 
Builder. 



i 



CHAPTER VII 

INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN CONFERENCES 

Awakening of interest in the countries to the south — First Con- 
ference at Washington in 1889-90 — Mr. Davis appointed a dele- 
gate by President Harrison — Andrew Carnegie a colleague — Sec- 
retary Blaine's address of welcome — Organization and work of 
the Conference — International banks and transportation — Bureau 
of American Republics — Mr. Davis appointed by President Mc- 
Kinley delegate to the Mexican Conference in 1901-02 — His as- 
sociates — High character of representatives from the other Re- 
publics — Golden Age of Mexico under Porfirio Diaz — Personnel 
of Mexican delegation — Tokens of respect for "The Senator" — 
Reasons for declining to be the presiding officer — Speech on the 
Monroe Doctrine — Important results achieved — Farewell tributes 
to Mr. Davis. 

PRESIDENT JAMES MONROE promulgated 
the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the year in which 
Henry G. Davis was born. Nearly half a cen- 
tury later Mr. Davis became actively identified with the 
nations that came within the sphere of the Doctrine, and 
continued to be identified with their interests and their 
aspirations for the remainder of his long life. It is not 
apparent just what directed his thoughts to the coun- 
tries to the south. It may have been the championship 
that was given them at the dawn of their independence 
by his early political idol, Henry Clay. It may have been 
that his association in the Senate with statesmen whose 
eyes were turned southward first awakened his attention. 
Whatever the source of the inspiration, his horizon ex- 
panded from national to international affairs. 

105 



io6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

When Mr. Davis was in the Senate there were occa- 
sional resolutions and speeches on the need of closer 
relations with the sister nations of the New World. The 
Trade Commission appointed by President Arthur, 
which visited the South American countries and reported 
on the commercial prospects, had its inception during 
his second term in a resolution offered by his colleague. 
Senator Cockerill of Missouri. Later, as a delegate to 
the National Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1884, 
he had supported the resolution embodied in the plat- 
form favoring an American continental policy based 
upon more intimate commercial and political relations 
with the Republics to the south. 

During the first administration of President Cleve- 
land, Congress gave concrete expression to the aspira- 
tions for closer relations by making provision for an in- 
ternational American conference to be held in Washing- 
ton. The ofificial invitations to the several nations were 
issued by Mr. Davis's friend, Secretary Bayard. The 
measures for the assembling of the Conference fell to 
President Harrison's administration. Mr. Davis's jour- 
nal, without preliminary suggestion of the subject, re- 
cords that President Harrison and Secretary Blaine had 
appointed him one of the delegates for the United States. 

The Conference assembled at Washington in October, 
1889, and was one of the notable events of that period, 
exciting interest in Europe as well as in the countries of 
the New World that participated in it. The several Re- 
publics designated their resident Ministers in Washing- 
ton as delegates, and supplemented them by other men of 
reputation extending beyond their own borders. 

Senor Matias Romero, who had long been the Mexican 
Minister to the United States, and whose friendship with 
General Grant had given him much influence in the years 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 107 

when Mexico was struggling toward stability under Por- 
firio Diaz, represented that country. The Republic of 
Brazil, just emerged from monarchy after a mild revolu- 
tion, was represented by Salvadore de Mendonga, an ac- 
complished diplomat. From the Argentine Republic 
came Seiior Roque Saenz Pena, who afterward became 
President. Other delegates also later filled important 
roles in their respective countries. 

President Harrison and Secretary Blaine had been 
at pains to select a delegation that would be representa- 
tive of both the international element and the business 
classes in American life. The chairman was John B. 
Henderson of Missouri, who had served as United 
States Senator and who was an authority on interna- 
tional law. William Henry Trescott of South Carolina, 
the author of important works on the diplomatic history 
of the United States, was another representative of the 
international idea. The other delegates were Cornelius 
N. Bliss of New York; Clement Studebaker of Indiana; 
T. Jefferson Coolidge of Massachusetts; Andrew Car- 
negie of New York; Henry G. Davis of West Virginia; 
M. M. Estee of California ; John F. Hanson of Georgia ; 
and Charles R. Flint of New York. 

At the opening of the Conference, Secretary Blaine 
made a speech of welcome which interpreted the aspira- 
tions of the delegates and in some measure indicated 
the results that were expected to follow. Among other 
things Secretary Blaine said : 

The delegates I am addressing can do much to establish perma- 
nent relations of confidence, respect, and friendship between the 
nations which they represent. They can show the world an hon- 
orable, peaceful conference of eighteen independent American 
Powers, in which all shall meet together on terms of absolute 
equality ; a conference in which there can be no attempt to coerce 



io8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

a single delegate against his own conception of his nation, a con- 
ference which will permit no secret understanding on any sub- 
ject, but will frankly publish to the world all its conclusions; a 
conference which will tolerate no spirit of conquest, but will aim 
to cultivate an American sympathy as broad as both continents. 
And yet, we cannot be expected to forget that our common fate 
has made us inhabitants of the two continents which, at the close 
of four centuries, are still regarded beyond the seas as the New 
World. Like situations beget like sympathies and impose like 
duties. . . . 

We believe that we should be drawn together more closely by 
the highways of the seas, and that at no distant day the railway 
system of the North and South will meet upon the Isthmus and 
connect by land routes the political and commercial capitals of 
all America. 

After the organization of the Conference and the ap- 
pointment of the committees, the delegates were taken 
on an excursion through New England and other parts 
of the country on what was said to be the finest special 
train that ever had been put in motion. Mr. Davis ac- 
companied the visitors on this trip. After they returned 
to Washington, the delegates settled down to somewhat 
intermittent committee work. An occasional entry in 
his journal shows that Mr. Davis, with his methodical 
habits and his business training, found some difficulty in 
adapting himself to the leisurely methods of interna- 
tional assemblages. There are good-natured admoni- 
tions to his fellow delegates about the necessity of get- 
ting down to work. 

The principal committees on which Mr. Davis served 
were those on the Pan-American Railway and on customs 
regulations, the latter proving very important because 
of the recommendations of a permanent nature which it 
made and which were adopted. Arbitration and other 
subjects of a somewhat academic character occupied 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 109 

much of the attention of the Conference ; but at the same 
time there was an influence in the background guiding 
toward questions of a practical kind such as banking 
facilities, shipping, and railway communication. 

Though he was not a member of the Committee on 
Banking, Mr. Davis was called into some of the meet- 
ings of that committee, and also helped shape the course 
of the Conference in modifying and adopting the recom- 
mendations made. The Conference went on record to 
the effect that commerce between the American countries 
might be greatly extended if proper means could be 
found for facilitating direct exchanges between the 
money markets of the several countries. The advisa- 
bility of the Congress of the United States passing a law 
incorporating an international American bank with 
branches was discussed with special reference to the fa- 
cilities that would be provided for making investments. 
This idea found fruition twenty-five years later, when, 
in consonance with the principle of the Federal Reserve 
Bank Act, Congress authorized the national banks of 
the United States to establish branches in foreign coun- 
tries. 

No more important action was taken by this Confer- 
ence than the adoption of the recommendation of the 
Committee on Customs Regulations. It was this report 
that provided for the establishment of the International 
Bureau of the American Republics as a permanent 
agency for carrying forward the work begun by the 
Conference. The evidences of Mr. Davis's constructive 
ideas are apparent in this report. Out of it came the es- 
tablishment of the Bureau of the American Republics, 
later to be broadened and expanded, with enhanced func- 
tions and an enlarged field of influence, into the Pan- 
American Union. 



no THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The chairman of the Committee on Railway Com- 
munication was Seiior de Velarde of Bolivia; Mr. Davis 
was the second member. The report of this Committee 
and its significance, as well as Mr. Davis's part in for- 
mulating it, are discussed in the following chapter. 

The first International American Conference con- 
cluded its labors in April, 1890. Its sessions, which had 
been opened by Secretary Blaine, were brought to a close 
by a brief address from him. Reviewing the work of 
the Conference, he said : 

"It will be a great gain when we shall acquire that 
common confidence on which all international friendship 
must rest. It will be a greater gain when we shall be 
able to draw the people of all American nations into 
close acquaintance with each other, an end to be facili- 
tated by more frequent and more rapid communication. 
It will be the greatest gain when the personal and com- 
mercial relations of the American States, north and 
south, shall be so developed and so regulated that each 
shall require the highest possible advantage from the 
enlightenment and enlarged intercourse of all." 

The development of closer relations among the nations 
of the New World, while not exactly dormant, was quies- 
cent during the next decade ; but, following the war with 
Spain for the liberation of Cuba, the importance of a 
better understanding and of more intimate intercourse 
again impressed itself on leaders of public thought in 
the United States. 

President McKinley, in his annual message of Decem- 
ber, 1899, voiced this feeling, and diplomatic methods 
were employed to secure a sympathetic cooperation on 
the part of the other nations. Mexico took the initia- 
tive in calling the Second Conference, and, Congress 
having made provision for delegates from the United 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS iii 

States, President McKinley and Secretary Hay occupied 
themselves with the selection of the delegation. Al- 
though the appointments were purely honorary, since 
they carried no compensation, an ample number of per- 
sons were willing to serve. 

The delegation as appointed consisted of Henry G. 
Davis, W. I. Buchanan of New York, Volney W. Foster 
of Illinois, Charles M. Pepper of the District of Colum- 
bia, and John Barrett of Oregon. Mr. Davis's comment 
on his own appointment was recorded in his journal un- 
der date of April 9, 1901 : 

I am just in receipt of notice, signed by President McKinley 
and Secretary Hay, that I am appointed delegate on part of U. S. 
to conference of American Republics to be held in the City of 
Mexico October 22, 1901 ; there are five delegates. It is an hon- 
orable appointment without pay. 

Of the other delegates, Mr. Buchanan had made a high 
reputation as Minister to the Argentine Republic, and 
at the time was director of the Pan-American Exposition 
at BufTalo; Mr. Foster was a business man engaged in 
many large enterprises and was familiar with Mexico; 
Mr. Pepper as a journalist had laid the foundation for a 
knowledge of Latin-America in Cuba ; Mr. Barrett was 
just back from the Orient where he had served as Min- 
ister to Siam. 

Though the appointments were made in April, the 
Conference at Mexico was not to meet until October. 
When the delegates from the United States assembled 
in Washington to receive their instructions, the assassin's 
bullet had removed President McKinley, and President 
Roosevelt was the Executive under whose administra- 
tion this step toward Pan-American unity was to be 
taken. He showed a very live interest in the prospective 
work of the Conference. 



112 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Mr. Davis was selected by his associates as chairman 
of the delegation. His fitness for the position was fully 
recognized, and there was, moreover, the desire to fur- 
ther his plans for giving impetus to the subject of rail- 
way communication among the different Republics. 

A special train was provided by the Department of 
State when the delegates left for Mexico in October. 
Since several of the Ministers of the South American 
and Central American Republics in Washington had 
been appointed delegates by their governments, and since 
other delegates had first come to the United States, they 
were invited to be the guests of the United States dele- 
gation on the trip to Mexico. Williams C. Fox, of the 
Bureau of American Republics, John Cassell Williams, 
the Secretary, and Dr. W. P. Wilson of the Philadelphia 
Commercial Museum were the others who were identified 
with the delegation. 

The meeting of the Conference in Mexico City was an 
historic event. Because of the acuteness of the question 
of arbitration and the recognition of the prospective in- 
fluence of the Conference, all the countries had selected 
their delegates from among their ablest men. The Ar- 
gentine delegation consisted of Garcia Merou, the Min- 
ister to Washington, who was distinguished alike in the 
public affairs of his country and in literature; Lo- 
renzo Anadon, who had served in the Argentine Senate 
and had held various official positions of a fiscal char- 
acter; and Antonio Bermejo, who had served as a deputy 
in the Congress, as Minister of Public Instruction, and 
Minister of Justice, and who subsequently became one 
of the Justices of the Supreme Court. Bolivia was rep- 
resented by Fernando P. Guachalla, the Minister in 
Washington, who subsequently became President. 

Brazil sent one of its most distinguished jurists in the 



I 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 113 

person of Jose Hygeni Duarte Pereira, who had filled 
many important positions and was a Judge of the Su- 
preme Court. The Chilean delegation was composed of 
Blest Gana, who had made a reputation in early life by 
his historical novels and who for nearly forty years had 
held important diplomatic positions ; Emilio Bello Code- 
cido, who had been Secretary of State, and who was one 
of the leaders of the party that had affiliated with Presi- 
dent Balmaceda in the Chilean civil war, and had mar- 
ried his daughter ; Joaquin Walker Martinez, the Minis- 
ter in Washington, who had served in various diplo- 
matic capacities, and also in the Cabinet at Santiago, 
and Augusto Matte, one of the leading business men of 
the country, who had served in the Chilean Congress 
and Cabinet, and in various diplomatic positions, and 
who was especially noted as a financier. 

The delegates from Colombia were Carlos Martinez 
Silva, the Minister in Washington, who had been a dele- 
gate to the First Conference, and General Rafael Reyes, 
a distinguished explorer, soldier, and statesman who sub- 
sequently became President. 

The Peruvian delegation consisted of Isaac Alzamora, 
the Vice-President of the Republic, a facile orator who 
had served as Minister of Foreign Relations and as a 
Deputy in Congress, and who had filled the chairs of 
philosophy and political economy in the University of 
Lima ; Alberto Elmore, a Justice of the Supreme Court, 
who had also served as Minister of Foreign Relations, 
and Manuel Alvarez Calderon, the Minister in Washing- 
ton, who had won a high reputation for his diplomatic 
ability. 

Ecuador was represented by Luis Felipe Carbo, Min- 
ister in Washington, who had also served his country in 
a diplomatic capacity in other countries. The represen- 



114 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

tative from Paraguay was Cecilio Baez, a member of the 
Chamber of Deputies, who subsequently served as Pres- 
ident. Uruguay was represented by Juan Cuestas, the 
Minister in Washington, who was the son of the Presi- 
dent. The delegates from Venezuela who were present 
for part of the time were J. Gil Fortuol, a writer and his- 
torian, and Dr. M. M. Galvais, a well-known lawyer. 

The Central American countries sent some of their 
most experienced men. Costa Rica was represented by 
Joaquin Bernardo Calvo, the Minister in Washington, 
who had served as secretary to the delegation from his 
country to the First Conference. Guatemala was repre- 
sented by Antonio Lazo-Arriaga, the Minister in Wash- 
ington, who had served as Speaker of the Guatemalan 
Congress; and Colonel Francisco Orla, who had served 
on the Government Boundary Commission and in the 
Army. Salvador sent Francisco A. Reyes, her Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, and Baltazar Estupinian, the Vice- 
President of the Congress and an authority on interna- 
tional law. Honduras was represented by Jose Leonard, 
a native of Poland who had been graduated from the 
University of Heidelberg, and who was filling a scho- 
lastic position, and Fausto Davila, a vigorous exponent 
of the progressive element in the politics of the country. 
The delegate from Nicaragua was Luis F. Corea, the 
Minister in Washington, who had filled various public 
positions. 

The personnel of these delegations was the indication 
of the high character of the Conference and the im- 
portance that was attached to its proceedings. It was 
the Mexican delegation, however, that contributed the 
largest galaxy of talent. As the host of the Conference, 
Mexico sought to dignify its work by the character of 
the men selected to represent her. This was in truth 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 115 

the Golden Age o£ Mexico under Porfirio Diaz. The 
signs of the great work he had wrought were every- 
where visible. The elements of destruction that some 
of them carried with them were not yet apparent. 

Mexico then occupied a foremost position in the eyes 
of the world, and this was a fitting occasion on which to 
give proof of her position. President Diaz was sur- 
rounded by the group of able men who had grown in 
public life with him. Ignacio Mariscal, who had guided 
the foreign relations of the country from chaos through 
infinite embarrassments until by his skilful diplomacy the 
whole world recognized and respected her international 
status, was the Minister of Foreign Relations. Jose 
Yves Limantour, who had evolved financial stability out 
of anarchic finances until Mexican credit stood as high 
as that of the United States, was Secretary of Finance. 
Men whose work was concerned chiefly with domestic 
measures, but whose constructive ability was equally 
great, filled other Cabinet positions. 

The Mexican delegation was of the same type as the 
nen who formed the Cabinet of President Diaz. Genaro 
Ragiosa, the chairman, was a distinguished lawyer. Al- 
fredo Chavero was noted as an archaeologist, lawyer, 
and orator, and was representative of the versatility of 
Latin public men. Pablo Macedo, a very able lawyer, 
was also a popular orator, and was the idol of what later 
came to be called the submerged classes. Joaquin Cas- 
asus, a lawyer and political economist and an authority 
on finance, w^as also a litterateur, and had achieved repu- 
tation as a classical scholar by his translation of Virgil 
into Spanish and as a student of English literature by his 
translation of Longfellow's "Evangeline." Emilio 
Pardo was a very distinguished lawyer who was then 
serving in the Mexican Congress. Rosendo Pineda was 



ii6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

a leader in the debates in Congress. Jose Lopez Portilla 
was a member of Congress and an authority on interna- 
tional law. Manual Sanchez Marmol was a leading 
member of Congress and was famous as a wit. Fran- 
cisco de la Barra was one of the younger men from whom 
much was expected because of his attainments in inter- 
national law and his relations with Young Mexico and 
the moderate clerical party. 

It was in an international assembly of this character, 
representing all the Americas, that Mr. Davis received 
the tokens of esteem that made the occasion memorable 
for him and for his countrymen. He was in his seventy- 
ninth year. This in itself would have insured him the 
consideration of his fellow delegates, for among the 
Latin peoples the spirit of veneration for elders does not 
diminish as the fourscore mark is approached. But 
coupled with this was a peculiar sentiment of affection 
which found utterance in the designation of 'The Sena- 
tor" with which he always was referred to. There was, 
moreover, a deep respect for his judgment and a feeling 
of confidence in his sense of justice that would be espe- 
cially desirable in meeting some of the issues that were 
likely to provoke outbreaks of feeling. 

The Conference was opened in a notable address by 
Minister Mariscal on behalf of Mexico, which was fe- 
licitously responded to by Delegate Alzamora of Peru. 
Then came the question of selecting a presiding officer. 
General Rafael Reyes of Colombia, moved by his deep 
sentiment, had informally suggested the choice of Mr. 
Davis, and this sentiment had been felt among the other 
delegates. They were privately advised that the delega- 
tion from the United States, reflecting the views of the 
Department of State at Washington, and also reflecting 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 117 

Mr. Davis's personal wishes, desired that the honor 
should go elsewhere. 

Notwithstanding that this Information was conveyed 
to them, General Reyes presented a resolution nominat- 
ing Mr. Davis as permanent president of the Conference 
and proposing that the selection be made by acclamation. 
This action would have been taken had not the United 
States delegation as a body, and Mr. Davis individually, 
intervened to prevent it. Delegate Pepper, speaking in 
Spanish, thanked the delegates for the desire they had 
manifested of honoring the distinguished Senator whose 
name formed a link between the First Conference and 
the one then in session, but he explained why the selec- 
tion was not expedient. 

Mr. Davis himself ended the suggestion by a speech 
in which he said : 

"I am deeply sensible of the honor proposed, and I 
thank you heartily for it, but a consistent course, to- 
gether with a sense of duty, compels me to say that I 
cannot accept it. We are here, not for office, not for 
preferment in any way, but to assist all of the Republics 
of America in whatever may lead to good, especially to 
peace, harmony, and good will to all. We wish to help 
to cultivate and bring about a better feeling than has 
heretofore existed, although even that feeling has been 
friendly. 

"Our thought is that we should have additional com- 
munication, both water and rail; and I want to see — 
and I believe all here do — an international railroad from 
Argentina to the Rio Grande. I believe that harmony 
peace, and good will will come out of our work here, and 
that we will find a way to prevent any further war on 
this hemisphere; that peace will reign perhaps forever. 



ii8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Eighty million people of the United States stand ready 
to assist, in any proper way they can, to bring about the 
best results for the good of the American public. 

*'We are, as you know, a happy, true, loyal, independ- 
ent, and liberty-loving people, and we say to our friends 
on our south that we want no further territory; but we 
are firm, as firm as the Medes and Persians were, in 
what is known as the Monroe Doctrine, which means 
that your territory is to be protected, your political 
rights, your commercial rights, and your liberty forever 
guaranteed. I feel more than I can speak. I appreciate 
the compliment proffered me more than I can tell you; 
but, as I have said in the beginning, I think it my duty 
that I should decline." 

The Conference respected the Senator's wishes, and 
Seiior Raigosa was chosen permanent chairman. Mr. 
Davis's few pointed words on the Monroe Doctrine 
created a sensation in the Conference at the time, and 
they were commented on, when published in Europe and 
in South America, as an important utterance. They re- 
flected the views that he always held. 

In the work of the Conference, Mr. Davis was fre- 
quently appealed to as a mediator in controverted ques- 
tions such as arbitration. At the First Conference the 
United States had favored compulsory arbitration. 
Events of the intervening years had changed its attitude 
somewhat. The skilful diplomacy of Mr. Buchanan 
aided the delegates to the Mexican Conference to travel 
over this delicate ground without serious complications; 
but the confidence felt in the impartiality of the chairman 
of the United States delegation had much to do with the 
avoidance of a break on the part of several delegations. 

'Mr. Davis served on several of the committees, and 
all of these, when the reports and recommendations came 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 119 

to be made, showed the impress of his constructive mind. 
The project of an international bank again had the bene- 
fit of his suggestions. In everything that the Confer- 
ence did he was looking to the future, and this was one 
of the subjects that he thought big with possibilities. 
Yet it was in looking toward the broader future that his 
ideas found their fullest scope. At his suggestion a 
Committee on Committees was formed, of which he was 
named as chairman. This Committee submitted a re- 
port under which provision was made for continuous 
development of intercourse among the three Americas. 

One of the committees provided for this purpose was 
that on future Pan-American Conferences, and during 
the final sessions Mr. Davis served on this Committee, 
and helped to formulate the resolutions under which 
the continuity of Pan-American Conferences was as- 
sured. The chairmanship of the Pan-American Rail- 
way Committee naturally fell to him, and the continuity 
of this great subject was assured when the Conference 
adopted the report providing for a permanent Pan- 
American Railway Committee. 

The Conference made a forward step in several direc- 
tions. It provided for the arbitration of pecuniary 
claims. It formally gave its adherence to The Hague, 
and it put in operation the machinery of various projects 
for commercial and industrial development. It also 
passed a resolution indorsing the Panama Canal. 

As the sessions drew to an end many evidences were 
afforded of the esteem in which Mr. Davis was held. 
He was compelled to leave before the final session, and 
his departure afforded the occasion for a demonstration 
that was extremely gratifying to his associates. He de- 
livered a brief farewell address in which he said: 

"The Government and the people of the United States 



120 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

have followed with interest the proceedings of this Con- 
ference. They appreciate the many courtesies extended 
to their delegates, and are pleased with the results ac- 
complished. 

"Personally, I owe a debt of gratitude to the officials 
and people of Mexico and to the delegates and all con- 
nected with the Conference for the many kind acts that 
made my sojourn in this country one of the most pleasant 
experiences of my life. I hope that the friendships 
made here will not terminate with the adjournment of 
this Conference, but that we will meet frequently, and 
that many of us will attend the next Pan-American Con- 
gress." 

As Mr. Davis left the hall, every delegate rose to his 
feet, and following his departure the Conference adopted 
a resolution recognizing the important services he had 
rendered to the union of the American Republics. The 
President of the Conference, as a further honor, ap- 
pointed a special committee to accompany Mr. Davis to 
the railway station. In the meantime, he had gone to 
the National Palace, where President Diaz had invited 
him for a farewell interview. The President expressed 
his high appreciation of Mr. Davis's services in the Con- 
ference. At the railway station, not only the members 
of the special committee, but virtually every member of 
the Conference and also many Mexican officials, assem- 
bled to say the final word of farewell. It was a demon- 
stration that profoundly affected Mr. Davis, and it was, 
moreover, a fitting conclusion to his active identification 
with the representatives of all the Americas in their work 
of promoting unity and fraternity. 




u 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE PAN-AMERICAN RAILWAY 

Intercontinental trunk line the concept of men of vision — Mr. 
Davis's faith shown at the First Conference — Activities on the 
survey commission — Value of engineering reconnaissances — Sum- 
mary of the route — Support given the project by the Mexican 
Conference — Creation of permanent Pan-American Railway Com- 
mittee — Its work — Special commissioner authorized by Congress 
— His report on status and prospects of the enterprise — Chairman 
Davis analyzes traffic and other objections — Relation to commerce 
and national development — Indorsement by subsequent Con- 
ferences — Steps to interest capitalists — Approval by International 
High Commission — Link between Harrison and Wilson adminis- 
trations, 

THERE are visionaries and there are men of 
vision, and usually the line between them is easily 
drawn. By many the project of an intercon- 
tinental trunk railway line has been looked on as the 
dream of the visionaries; yet even the skeptics must 
pause and give it more than passing thought when men 
of vision turn their attention to it. 

There was nothing of the visionary in Henry G. Davis. 
A business man, a developer of natural resources, a 
builder of railways, with an intensely practical mind, he 
was essentially a man of vision. It was this quality that 
enabled him to see the natural wealth of his own State 
that was awaiting development. When his view ex- 
panded and swept over a whole hemisphere, the Pan- 
American Railway project appealed to his imagination 
with the same force. 

121 



122 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The project itself was not any one man's conception. 
Statesmen and students of international relations alike 
had had it in their ken. Hinton Rowan Helper of North 
Carolina had given the idea substance in his book on 
the 'Three Americas Railway." Juan Jose Castro, a 
Uruguayan engineer of eminence, had, with the aid of his 
Government, brought together the various factors in the 
project as they related to South America. In the United 
States Senate, when Mr. Davis was a member of that 
body, his colleague and namesake, David Davis of 
Illinois, had introduced a resolution intended to secure 
recognition for the project. It is probable that the in- 
terest of Henry G. Davis had been awakened before then, 
possibly through Richard A. Parsons, a distinguished 
Virginia engineer and railway builder who had sought to 
put the enterprise on a practical basis. 

Whatever the original inspiration may have been it is 
certain that when he became a member of the First In- 
ternational American Conference the idea filled the mind 
of Mr. Davis, and he was eager to make use of the op- 
port-unity that it afforded to give the project tangible 
form. In accordance with his wishes, he was appointed 
a member of the Committee on Railroad Communication, 
which was presided over by Senor Velarde of Bolivia. 
The report of that Committee bears his impress through- 
out. In formulating it he had the cooperation of An- 
drew Carnegie. 

The historical importance of this first step in an inter- 
national enterprise with which the name of Mr. Davis 
will ever be associated justifies a special chapter on the 
subject. The Committee in its report said that the first 
thing to be done was to ascertain the practicability and 
the approximate cost of the line by providing for an in- 
ternational commission to ascertain possible routes, esti- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 123 

mate the cost of each, and compare their respective ad- 
vantages. 

The report further recommended that the raihvay, in 
so far as the common interests would permit, should con- 
nect the principal cities in the vicinity of its route, and 
that, if this would result in too great a change from the 
general direction of the main trunk, branch lines should 
be surveyed to connect with the main line ; that the execu- 
tion of a work of such magnitude deserved to be further 
encouraged by subsidies, grants of land, or guaranties 
of a minimum of interest; that the expenses incident to 
the preliminary and final surveys should be assumed by 
all the nations accepting in proportion to their popula- 
tion; that the railway should be declared forever neutral 
for the purpose of securing freedom of traffic; and that 
as soon as the Government of the United States should 
receive notice of the acceptance of these recommenda- 
tions by the other governments it should invite them to 
name their representatives on the Commission provided 
for, so that it might meet in Washington as early as pos- 
sible. 

This provision was characteristic of Mr. Davis's fore- 
thought. He had little faith in resolutions and recom- 
mendations that did not point the way to carry them out. 
After a short debate, in which he took a leading part, 
explaining the main features of the report, it was unani- 
mously adopted. The first step had been taken for 
building the Pan-American Railway. 

The next step soon followed. It appears in the entry 
in the journal of Mr. Davis, to which is attached a news- 
paper clipping announcing the appointment of a com- 
mission to provide for an intercontinental railway sur- 
vey. This reads: 



124 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

October 4, 1890. The newspaper slip shows President Har- 
rison and Secretary Blaine have made me one of three commis- 
sioners on the part of the United States on the Intercontinental 
Railway Commission. This looks to building road from U. S. to 
all the fifteen independent States of Central and South America. 
I look upon the work as great and important to the people of all 
the fifteen Republics. Trade is now against us. Europe can 
successfully compete with water, but not with rail. 

I intend to give much attention and work to the above enter- 
prise, and believe it practical ; know it will be of great value to 
U. S. and its people. I hope and expect to live to see this road 
built from here to the most southern point of South America, 
and the balance of trade in our favor; now it is about $100,000,000 
annually against us. 

President Harrison, following the recommendation of 
the First Conference, had asked Congress for an appro- 
priation to provide for the participation of the United 
States in the Intercontinental Railway Commission, and, 
the appropriation having been made, he designated Mr. 
A. J. Cassatt, President of the Pennsylvania Railway 
System and at the time by common consent the foremost 
railway executive in the United States, as the head of 
the Commission. With Mr. Cassatt were associated 
Henry G. Davis and Richard C. Kerens of Missouri. 
George M. Pullman had expected to serve, but at the 
last moment was compelled to decline through the ur- 
gency of private affairs. 

Others of the countries interested had provided their 
quota of the appropriation and designated their repre- 
sentatives on the Commission. 

The Commission held its first meeting at the Depart- 
ment of State on December 4, 1890. After a brief ad- 
dress the organization was effected. Mr. Davis was 
made chairman of the Committee on Finance, but he 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 125 

also, by special request, attended the meetings of the 
Executive Committee which had charge of the surveys 
and engineering reconnaissances. 

The Survey was organized, with William F. Shunk 
of Pennsylvania as engineer-in-chief. Under his direc- 
tion separate survey parties were put in the field for Cen- 
tral America, Colombia, and Ecuador. They were un- 
der the supervision of officers from the Engineer Corps 
of the United States Army. The survey corps made 
reconnaissances, prepared data, and submitted maps. 
The information thus gathered was of very great value. 
Much of it was entirely original and covered fields of in- 
vestigation that had never before been touched. 

The Intercontinental Railway Commission held ses- 
sions from December, 1890, until October, 1894, when 
its final report was submitted. This report was em- 
bodied in half a score of volumes and maps. Prelim- 
inary estimates were made for a line running from the' 
northern boundary of Guatemala to the northernmost 
limit of the railway system of Argentina so as to form a 
through line connecting the railway systems of the 
United States and Mexico on the north with the Argen- 
tine system on the south, with branch lines connecting 
the railway systems of Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, and 
Uruguay with the main line. 

In the summary of the surveys and reconnaissances 
as prepared by Captain E. Z. Steever, under date of 
January, 1896, it was stated that the distance from New 
York to Buenos Aires by the most available route, using 
existing railways as far as possible, was 10,228 miles, 
of which 4,772 miles, principally in the United States, 
Mexico, and the Argentine Republic, already were in 
operation, leaving 5,456 miles to be built. The practica- 



126 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

bility of the work, both as an engineering project and as 
a financial undertaking, was declared to be established. 

While public interest was awakened by this report, 
and while the value of the information collated was ap- 
preciated, no steps were taken at the time toward fur- 
thering the project. But the subject was not allowed by 
Mr. Davis to be forgotten. He continued his efforts to 
arouse interest in it until the opportunity came to give it 
further prominence, and also to give it a definite direc- 
tion which would insure that it would not ever again be- 
come dormant. This opportunity was afforded when he 
went to Mexico in the midwinter of 1901-2 as chairman 
of the United States Delegation to the Second Confer- 
ence. As chairman of the Committee on the Pan-Amer- 
ican Railway his enthusiasm soon infected the other dele- 
gates. They felt that what had long been considered, 
if not a dream, at least a vague and indefinable project, 
was now susceptible of becoming a reality. 

The report of this Committee, which was principally 
formulated by Mr. Davis, covered much of the ground 
that had been made by the Committee on Railway Com- 
munications in the First Conference. Chairman Davis 
in submitting the report summarized the reasons for its 
adoption in twenty terse paragraphs, with special refer- 
ence to the conditions as they existed at the beginning of 
the twentieth century. 

The most significant feature of the report was the 
provision for the appointment of a permanent Pan- 
American Railway Committee with headquarters in 
Washington. The president of the Conference, in ac- 
cordance with the resolution adopted, named the Com- 
mittee. It consisted of Henry G. Davis, chairman; An- 
drew Carnegie; Sefior Don Manuel de Azpiroz, Mexican 
Ambassador to the United States; Senor Don Manuel 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 127 

Alvarez Calderon, Peruvian Minister to the United 
States; and Senor Don Antonio Lazo Arriaga, Guate- 
malan Minister to the United States. 

The project having thus been given permanency, the 
energy of the chairman of the Committee did not per- 
mit its work to lapse. It was considered desirable to 
have a report on the whole enterprise as it then stood, 
and on the attitude of the various governments toward 
it, as well as to acquaint them with the friendly policy 
of the United States. 

Several meetings of the Permanent Committee were 
held in the winter months of 1903, and it was determined 
to secure, if possible, the positive approval of Congress. 
A provision accordingly was inserted in one of the appro- 
priation bills through the aid of Mr. Cannon, the chair- 
man of the House Committee on Appropriations, and 
Mr. Allison, the chairman of the Senate Committee, by 
which this indorsement was secured. With the excep- 
tion of the slight amount thus provided, the funds for 
the work were supplied by Mr. Davis and Mr. Carnegie. 
Mr. Charles M. Pepper was the choice of the Committee, 
and also of Secretary Hay, to visit the several countries. 
He was especially commissioned by President Roosevelt, 
under the authority of Congress, and thus became the 
representative not only of the Pan-American Railway 
Committee, but of the Government of the United States. 

Commissioner Pepper spent a year in visiting the 
southern countries, during which his labors were facili- 
tated by the several governments. He was able to ex- 
plain to them the view taken of the project by the United 
States, to offer suggestions of a practical nature in re- 
gard to their own measures of cooperation, and to supply 
them with information in regard to what was being done 
in other countries. On his return he made a full re- 



128 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

port, which was transmitted to Congress by the Presi- 
dent and was translated into Spanish. 

This report reviewed the events that had stimulated 
the project since the First Conference, with special ref- 
erence to the value of the work of the Intercontinental 
Survey, which, as a comprehensive study of railway de- 
velopment in Central and South America, had been of 
special benefit in various exploitation enterprises collat- 
eral to railway building, and also had formed the ground- 
work for further studies by geographical societies, scien- 
tific commissions, government engineers, and individuals. 
Analysis was made of the railway policies of the several 
governments, with detailed information concerning the 
progress of actual construction. It was shown that 
there had been an increase in mileage along the line of 
the main trunk, so that the total distance that remained 
to be closed up between New York and Buenos Aires had 
been shortened some five hundred miles since the sum- 
mary made by Captain Steever of the Intercontinental 
Survey. 

The publication of this report awakened fresh inter- 
est in the United States, and in Europe it also attracted 
attention to the existence of the permament Pan-Ameri- 
can Railway Committee. Chairman Davis took ad- 
vantage of the interest aroused, and in March, 1905, 
gave a dinner to the diplomatic representatives of the 
Latin-American countries and to others, at which the 
entire project was reviewed. Mr. Davis himself reit- 
erated his faith in the ultimate realization of the idea. 
Senator Elkins added his word of confidence, saying that 
the pcoject was no longer a dream, no longer a prophecy, 
since its consummation so long looked for now seemed 
practicable and possible. The diplomatic representa- 
tives of the Latin-American Republics in their addresses 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 129 

took occasion to express their appreciation of Mr. Davis, 
and they drank a toast to him as the man who with the 
utmost zeal worked for the accompHshment of the inter- 
continental railroad. 

An incident of this dinner was a letter from Andrew 
Carnegie, who was unable to be present, in which he 
urged that the United States should give the hundred 
million dollars then spent on the Navy toward the Rail- 
way, conditioned upon the South American Republics 
pledging their credit for an equal sum. Afterward, in 
a letter to the New York Tribune, Mr. Carnegie elab- 
orated this view, maintaining that the Railway would be 
a more effective means of maintaining the Monroe Doc- 
trine than warships. He also urged the project on other 
grounds, both sentimental and practical, saying that it 
would enormously increase our trade, and that direct 
lines of steamers to South American ports would nat- 
urally follow. 

In the discussion growing out of the activities of the 
Pan-American Railway Committee, Mr. Davis was fre- 
quently confronted with the geographical conditions that 
were alleged to make through traffic over an intercon- 
tinental trunk line impracticable as a business proposi- 
tion. Some of his associates in large railway enter- 
prises would good-humoredly suggest that diamonds as 
through freight from New York to Buenos Aires would 
be the only traffic that would pay. He was fully alive 
to the traffic objections to the project as well as to the 
engineering difficulties, but he understood better than 
most of his critics the collateral questions connected with 
the subject, and he also appreciated the indirect influence 
and the political or national objects that would be sub- 
served by the several countries through the construction 
of the line. 



130 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

In an article published in the North American Review 
for May, 1906, he reviewed the proposition on its busi- 
ness side, with incidental allusion to its historical and 
sentimental aspect. This article presents the best sum- 
mary of his views that he ever made, and some parts of 
it are quoted below in their entirety : 

It is proper to take into account the general subject and founda- 
tion of the proposed intercontinental trunk line and branches. 
The basis is a business one, whether looked at from the stand- 
point of the individual, of a single nation, or of the group of 
nations which constitute the American continent. Railroads are 
built to earn dividends. For the body of stockholders the divi- 
dends must depend on the net earnings to be obtained from the 
traffic that either already exists or is created. The capitalists 
who supply the funds may have additional reasons resulting 
from their ownership of mines, of timber areas, or of agricul- 
tural regions whose products can only be made marketable by 
providing means of communication. Sometimes, therefore, their 
investments do not depend solely on the actual net earnings. Yet 
the increased value of lands and the market obtained for their 
products of every kind are only another form of dividends. 

For a nation, the dividends cannot be estimated in direct terms 
of interest on bonds, or of net earnings for capital stock. For it, 
the dividends are the development of the local resources, the 
wider market obtained for the products of the country, the in- 
crease of the population through immigration, and, in a word, 
the addition to the wealth of the nation. There is also the divi- 
dend which cannot be estimated in terms of dollars and cents 
because it comes from a better knowledge which the people of 
the different regions of the country obtain of one another, and 
from the cultivation of the national patriotic spirit. This is a 
clear case of the influence of frequent and cheap communication 
among diverse sections of the country. 

It is because of the addition to the wealth of a nation by de- 
veloping its resources, and the strengthening of the patriotic 
bonds which bind the different sections and their inhabitants 
more closely together, that all the progressive elements have 
aided railway construction. This will always be the policy of a 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 131 

new country with undeveloped resources, or of an old country 
which seeks to become a modern nation. It is this feeling which 
caused the United States to spend four hundred thousand dollars 
on surveys across the Rocky Mountains long before any feasible 
plans for a railroad to the Pacific were attracting the attention of 
capitalists, and later developed into a definite national policy 
when the Pacific Railways were aided by enormous land grants, 
subsidies, and bond guaranties. When the first transcontinental 
line was constructed many wise men doubted whether there ever 
would be traffic enough to pay the operating expenses. . . . 

The international like the national dividends are wider markets 
and the enlarged trade which come from increasing the means of 
intercourse between different countries. A better understanding 
by one people of another people is certainly a desirable result, 
and this is secured by furnishing means of communication. The 
international dividend may be said to be one of dollars and cents 
in the way of more commerce, and of peace in the way of avoid- 
ing misunderstandings which come from lack of intercourse. 

In the light of these facts the proposed Pan-American Railway 
may be said to offer returns to the individual, to the nations as 
separate Republics, and to them as a part of the family of na- 
tions of the western hemisphere. But the question at the root 
of railroad building always must relate to the commercial ad- 
vantages, that is, to the traffic. It is not often that a rail line is 
built for traffic that already exists. Freight follows the rail line. 
The railway creates tonnage, and tonnage is commerce both local 
and international. 

He then analyzed the commerce of Mexico, Central 
America, and South America with the United States, 
with the purpose of showing its relation to railway fa- 
cilities. In discussing this phase of the subject he took 
up the matter of steamship service : 

What will be noted in any detailed analysis of trade returns is 
that commerce grows in the ratio in which increased facilities are 
given not merely to steamship service but more especially to means 
of railway communication. The steamship service from its na- 
ture is of little benefit in developing the interior of the country. 



132 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The coast-line does not furnish a large traffic, and the points not 
reached by railroad create little tonnage. When this tonnage has 
to be brought to the market by pack mules or wagon carts the 
cost is often equal to the value of the product. The railway picks 
up freight every few miles, but the steamship service of South 
America on an average requires a land haul of one hundred and 
fifty miles each way, or three hundred miles in all. This is one 
reason, and a strong one, why intercontinental railway develop- 
ment through railway connection is desirable. 

A common illustration familiar to all railway builders and 
traffic managers is that of the team with the load of wheat, which. 
by the time the point of shipment has been reached, has eaten 
up all the wheat. The same principle applies in mines. Iron 
ore, coal, copper, silver, may exist in great quantities in certain 
localities, but the mines never will be worked where the cost of 
transporting the ore is greater than the amount received for it. 
It is railway lines that make it profitable to develop the mines, 
and the traffic from this source is always to be considered in 
providing for railway systems. This probably is more especially 
necessary with regard to the localities to be reached by the Pan- 
American system than with those of any other part of the world. 

The Pan-American routes as surveyed parallel the Pacific coast 
along the trend of the Andes, but they provide for branches or 
feeders which will shoot out toward the Atlantic as well as to- 
ward the Pacific. If their construction is much more difficult 
and costly than when the water line can be followed, there is in 
its business aspect the value of the traffic that comes from the 
tonnage of mineral regions. This tonnage is of the kind that 
quickly pays for itself. 

The Third Pan-American Conference met at Rio de 
Janeiro in September, 1906, and was made historic by 
the presence of Secretary Elihu Root and the consequent 
impetus that was given to the relations of the United 
States with the countries to the south. For that Con- 
ference Chairman Davis prepared a full report review- 
ing not simply the activities of the permanent Pan-Amer- 
ican Railway Committee, but giving also the progress in 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 133 

the way of actual construction. The Conference ap- 
pointed a special committee on the subject, which ac- 
cepted the report, made recommendations along the line 
of previous Conferences, commended the work of Chair- 
man Davis and the committee, and recommended that it 
be continued. This resolution was adopted with many 
manifestations of appreciation. 

Following the indorsement of this Conference, Chair- 
man Davis continued his work both along educational 
and along practical lines. In February, 1909, he gave 
a dinner in Washington to the Pan-American Railway 
Committee, and his expectations are thus recorded in his 
journal: 

February 9, 1909. On 7th inst. I gave a dinner to Pan-Amer- 
ican Railway Committee. I am encouraged to think we may 
soon be able to move towards the building of the gap, at least the 
Panama Canal. 

This dinner was followed by a visit to New York to 
talk over the subject with George F. Baker, the president 
of the First National Bank, with whom he had been for 
many years intimately associated in financial matters, 
H. P. Davison of J. P. Morgan and Company, and Frank 
A. Vanderlip. The entry in his journal records the en- 
couragement he received : 

February lo, 1909. Call on Messrs. Baker, Vanderlip and 
Davison in the interest of Pan-American Railway. Mr. Baker 
said he would join Mr. Davison and Mr. Vanderlip. Mr. Davi- 
son said he not only favored but they would join in building the 
road. Mr. Vanderlip was in favor and would join in building 
road. ... I was well pleased. The three are the best men in 
New York, or elsewhere. 

Unsettled financial conditions in the United States 
and uncertainty as to the willingness of Congress to 



134 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

grant a charter of the character desired prevented the 
cooperation of the capitaHsts mentioned in taking hold of 
the project at that time. Nevertheless, the energies of 
Chairman Davis continued to be directed toward giving 
the project concrete form as an international enterprise 
to be supported by the several governments which would 
be interested through their geographic and other situa- 
tion. He had several interviews with President Taft 
and Secretary Knox, both of whom gave hearty support 
to his plans. Secretary Knox especially exerted himself 
in seeing that its importance be realized by the Fourth 
Pan-American Conference, which met at Buenos Aires 
in September, 1910, and the United States delegation 
received special instructions on the subject. To this 
Conference Chairman Davis, on behalf of the perma- 
nent Pan-American Railway Committee, presented a re- 
port showing the further progress that had been made 
since the previous Conference. 

The Buenos Aires Conference confirmed the resolu- 
tions taken by its predecessor on the subject, acknowl- 
edged the important services that the permanent Pan- 
American Railway Committee had rendered, and con- 
tinued its existence. It also further charged the Com- 
mittee with the collection of fresh data and recommended 
the countries interested to cooperate with the Commit- 
tee with a special view to preventing the project from 
being abandoned to the isolated action of each of the 
countries especially interested in it. 

Following the action of the Buenos Aires Conference, 
the Committee, under the direction of Chairman Davis, 
continued its activity, in which it had the cooperation 
of the Department of State. Meetings were held during 
the subsequent year, at which the progress in actual 
construction was reported and measures were taken to 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 135 

secure further cooperation by the several governments. 
It had been intended to present a report to the Fifth 
International American Conference, which was to meet 
at Santiago, Chile, in 191 5 ; but the postponement of this 
Conference because of the unsettled conditions resulting 
from the hostilities in Europe rendered its preparation 
unnecessary. Means were found, however, for keep- 
ing the project alive. When the Pan-American Finan- 
cial Conference met in Washington in the spring of 

191 5, reports were made by the respective delegations 
on railway conditions in their countries, and the ma- 
jority of them gave prominence to the relation of the 
railway construction to the Pan-American project. 

Out of the Financial Conference grew the Interna- 
tional High Commission, a permanent body. Members 
of this Commission, with the Secretary of the Treasury 
at their head, visited South America in the spring of 

1 9 16. A special committee investigated the Pan-Amer- 
ican Railway project and reported on measures to en- 
courage it along the lines that the permanent Committee 
was following. Secretary McAdoo indorsed this re- 
port. The work that Chairman Davis had undertaken 
during President Harrison's administration was thus 
carried forward to President Wilson's administration, 
with the full recognition that it was the great idea not 
of a visionary but of a man of vision. 



CHAPTER IX 

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES AS A PRIVATE CITIZEN 

Support of Senator Bayard in 1884 — Cleveland's nomination at 
Chicago — Talk of Mr. Davis for Vice-President — He urges 
Hendricks — Campaign work — Visit to Albany — Explanation of 
his interest in Mr. Blaine — National conventions in 1888 — 
Prophecy of Harrison's nomination — Mr. Davis declines to be a 
candidate for Governor — Visit to the President-elect at Indian- 
apolis — Cabinet suggestions — Campaign of 1892 — Disruption in 
the Democratic party — Support of Bryan and Free Silver in 1896 
— West Virginia politics — View of national election in 1900. 

BUSINESS enterprises, exacting as they were, did 
not monopolize the attention of Mr. Davis after 
his retirement from the Senate. His interest 
in public affairs continued unabated. The duty of a 
citizen was never neglected by him. He liked politics. 
He participated in the primaries and in the local cam- 
paigns as well as those in which larger issues were in- 
volved. His political activities during the twenty years 
after he left the Senate give a panoramic view of the 
politics of the nation and of his own State of West 
Virginia. 

He took part in conference and caucuses, attended con- 
ventions, declined suggestions and pleas that he himself 
become a candidate for several offices, wrote letters to 
the newspapers, and made speeches. Nor was his hori- 
zon confined to his own party. He was a keen observer 
of the tendencies and movements in the other organiza- 
tion, and the warm friendships he had formed with many 

136 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 137 

leading Republicans gave a touch of personal interest. 
The political history of the country almost might be 
sketched from the activities and the observations of Mr. 
Davis during this period. 

Senator Bayard was his choice for the Democratic 
nomination in 1884. This was partly the outgrowth of 
their association in the Senate, and partly due to the 
conservative character of both men in their views on 
public issues. 

Mr. Davis, as usual, was placed at the head of the 
West Virginia delegation to the Democratic National 
Convention. After his election as a delegate to this 
Convention he began to interest himself actively in be- 
half of Mr. Bayard. The progress of the campaign for 
the nomination is indicated in his journal: 

June 27, 1884. I returned from New York this morning. On 
Monday night about a dozen of Mr. Bayard's friends met at his 
house at dinner. By his request Senators Gorman, McPherson, 
and myself go to New York in Senator B's presidential interest. 
Convention meets 8th prox. at Chicago. I am a delegate. We 
find Bayard has a number of good reliable friends in New York, 
among them Aug. Belmont, W. R. Traverse, John Kelly. 

It looked to us as if Gov. Cleveland had a majority of the New 
York delegation. Flower has considerable following. Tammany 
is opposed to Cleveland. Brooklyn or Kings County has not 
elected anyone. Upon the whole, Bayard's chance is only tol- 
erable, owing largely to the fact that the country is disposed to 
go for whoever New York asks for. 

At the Chicago Convention Mr. Davis exerted him- 
self vigorously for his candidate, but his statement that 
Bayard's chance was only tolerable was borne out by 
the results. Delegates from other parts of the country 
did not accept the plea made by Tammany that Governor 
Cleveland, if nominated, could not carry New York 



138 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

State. The unit rule was enforced and the Tammany 
delegates and other opponents of Cleveland in the New 
York delegation were voted solidly for his nomination. 

On the first ballot Mr. Bayard received 170 votes. 
On the second, when Governor Cleveland was nom- 
inated, he had 81^ votes. Mr. Davis and one of his 
West Virginia colleagues, Mr. Beale, were among those 
who voted for Bayard on both ballots. 

Following the nomination for President, the candi- 
date for Vice-President was discussed in the usual as- 
pect of availability as to geography and personality. 
Some of Mr. Cleveland's warmest supporters turned to 
West Virginia, while others looked to Indiana. Thomas 
A. Hendricks was the available candidate from Indiana, 
although some of Mr. Cleveland's friends were irritated 
with him. Others were not very kindly disposed toward 
Mr. Davis because of the persistence he had shown in 
supporting Mr. Bayard. It was known, however, that 
he would be very acceptable to Tammany and to the 
element in New York that had been opposed to Cleve- 
land. 

A conference was held which was attended by ex-Sen- 
ator W. H. Barnum of Connecticut, ex-Senator Francis 
Kernan and Smith Weed of New York, John Kelly, the 
Tammany leader, W. L. Scott of Pennsylvania, Senator 
Gorman, George L. Converse of Ohio, and others. They 
sent for Mr. Davis, who advised the nomination of Mr. 
Hendricks. His recital of the circumstance is found in 
a very brief comment accompanying some newspaper 
clippings in his journal, to this effect : 

From the newspaper extracts it will be seen that the nomination 
for Vice-President was between Mr. Hendricks and myself. No 
friend or myself made any move for my nomination; it came 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 139 

from Gov. Cleveland's friends unsought by me. I am told that 
W. L. Scott, of Pa., made an earnest effort in my behalf. 

While Mr. Davis was deeply interested in the nomina- 
tion of the candidate, he was also quite solicitous about 
the platform which should be adopted, and particularly 
what should be said in regard to the tariff. He was a 
member of the Committee on Resolutions, and served on 
the sub-committee which formulated the platform that 
the Convention adopted. He records its action quite 
briefly : 

Sub-committee — General B. F. Butler, Massachusetts ; Hon. A. 
S. Hewitt, New York ; Hon. W. R. Morrison, Illinois ; Henry 
Watterson, Kentucky ; Governor Morton, Nebraska ; General 
Burke, Louisiana ; Hon. G. L. Converse, Ohio ; H. G. Davis, West 
Virginia. We were about 48 hours in session, and at last agreed, 
less Gen. Butler. 

Mr. Davis took his customary part in the campaign in 
his State, attending among other conventions the con- 
gressional convention in his district which nominated 
for the House of Representatives William L. Wilson, 
who was afterward to become famous as the author of a 
tariff bill with which Mr. Davis did not agree. 

In October, in answer to a personal letter from Gov- 
ernor Cleveland, Mr. Davis went to Albany to confer 
about the prospects. His account of the meeting is given 
in a characteristic entry in his journal: 

October 12. In response to letter of Gov. Cleveland, I went to 
New York and got Mr. Gorman to telegraph I was there. Gov. 
Cleveland asked me to come from cars to Executive Mansion, 
which I did; found the Governor waiting dinner for me. We 
dined together, no one else present. I was much pleased with 
the man and the way he received me. We talked over the sit- 
uation and men generally for two or three hours. We concluded 
chances for Ohio were one in three, and West Virginia nine out 



140 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of ten. Election in Ohio and West Virginia takes place October 
14; presidential election November 4. 

The outcome in those two States was indicated in the 
following journal entry: 

October 18. The result of October election in Ohio and West 
Virginia is now known, Ohio being Republican and West Vir- 
ginia Democrat; makes it a draw and very uncertain who will 
succeed in November election. Chances favor (slightly) Mr. 
Blaine. 

The tension throughout the country over the closeness 
of the election is shown in these extracts from the 
journal : 

November 5, Yesterday was general election day all over U. 
S, for Presdt. and Vice-Presdt. All passes fairly quiet. Con- 
test very close. Not fully known to-day who is elected, but 
general impression is Cleveland and Hendricks. New York State 
is very close, and whichever way it goes will decide election. 

November 12. Owing to New York State being very close 
between Blaine and Cleveland, there is now an official count 
going on. Cleveland has upon face 1,200 or 1,300 majority, and 
it is generally conceded he is elected. 

In this campaign Mr. Davis's position was a peculiar 
one. Mr. Blaine was his warm personal friend and 
business associate. The chairman of the Republican 
National Committee was his son-in-law, Stephen B. El- 
kins. But as a leader and a believer in the principles of 
his party he felt impelled to support the candidate of his 
own political organization. Moreover, the chairman of 
the Democratic National Committee was Senator Arthur 
P. Gorman, his kinsman and business and political 
associate. 

Immediately after the nomination of Mr. Blaine, and 
before the Democratic National Convention met, some 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 141 

question was raised in his own State in regard to his at- 
titude. He answered the question in a brief letter to the 
Wheeling Register, in which he said that, while Mr. 
Blaine was his business associate and warm personal 
friend, he had no intention of supporting him. His own 
comment on the situation is given in his journal under the 
same entry, in which he recites Cleveland's election : 

In the contest for President my political feeling and acts were 
and are with Cleveland ; my personal feeling with Blaine. Mr. 
Elkins (son-in-law) and Senator Gorman (cousin) were at the 
head of the committees of Democrats and Republicans, so my re- 
lation to each is good and close. 

When the President-elect was forming his Cabinet, 
some suggestions were made that Mr. Davis should be 
in it. He commented simply in his journal that the 
newspapers had considerable talk about himself for the 
Cabinet, but that nothing was known as to who would 
go into it, although all thought that Senator Bayard and 
W. C. Whitney would be offered places. Belief that Mr. 
Davis was in mind was strengthened in February, when 
he had an interview with Mr. Cleveland in New York 
City, but apparently that was not the purport of the in- 
terview. It is thus described : 

February 7, 1885. Responding to telegraph from Senator 
Gorman, I went to New York last evening to call upon President- 
elect Cleveland. He had many callers. He treated me very 
nicely ; talked to me half an hour. 

This is the description of the inauguration of the first 
Democratic President since Buchanan : 

March 4, 1885. I go down in the morning, go in Senate, wit- 
ness inaugural address, etc., of Governor Cleveland as President 
of the U. S. Day is good. {Very good.) More people attend 
than ever attended an inaugural address before. 



142 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Mr. Davis's political relations with President Cleve- 
land throughout his first administration were friendly, 
if less intimate than his personal relations. One brief 
entry in the journal indicates that he did not think that 
Mr. Cleveland and himself were so far apart on the 
tariff. It follows: 

January 28, 1887. I was in Washington yesterday; had by 
appointment a long talk with President Cleveland. I suggested 
special message to Congress urging tariff legislation and reduction 
of revenue. He received the suggestion kindly, and I think he 
will act upon it. 

Mr. Davis, as usual, headed the West Virginia delega- 
tion to the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis 
in June, 1888. There was no opposition to President 
Cleveland's renomination, and his old friend and sena- 
torial associate, Allan G. Thurman, v/as nominated for 
Vice-President. This is his account of the proceedings : 

June 3, 1888. I start to St. Louis in special car of Senator 
Gorman to attend Democratic Convention, which meets on 5th. 
I represent W. Va. on national executive committee. Gorman, 
Watterson, and Scott were the leading men of the Convention. 
I was with them most of the time. I declined reelection on Na- 
tional Executive Committee. Cleveland and Thurman were each 
unanimously nominated. This is very unusual. 

In this year the question as to who should be the Re- 
publican candidate was involved in much uncertainty. 
Mr. Davis, with his keen powers of observation, had 
reached the conclusion that the nominee would be Gen- 
eral Benjamin Harrison of Indiana. Months before the 
Convention met, in correspondence with Mr. Bayard, 
who was then Ambassador to Great Britain, he ex- 
pressed this belief. Mr. Bayard, three thousand miles 
away, saw no such probability, and so wrote Mr. Davis, 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 143 

asking him the grounds for his belief; and Mr. Davis 
responded reviewing the pohtical conditions and the 
prospects. His prophecy was confirmed. His record of 
the event is thus given : 

July 3, 1888, General Harrison has just been nominated by 
the RepubHcans for President. Elkins has had much to do with 
nominating him. In fact, I doubt his nomination but for Elkins. 
He is our personal friend. 

There was a movement in the Democratic party to 
strengthen the ticket in West Virginia by nominating 
Mr. Davis for Governor. This movement, however, re- 
ceived no encouragement from him, and he finally set 
it at rest by a letter to the Wheeling Register under date 
of August 1st, as follows: 

I have had many personal requests and a large number of let- 
ters asking me to allow my name to be used in connection with 
the gubernatorial nomination at the approaching State Demo- 
cratic Convention to be held August 16. 

To all such inquiries my general reply has been and is that 
my business affairs are in such condition that they demand all of 
my time and attention, and, without neglecting them and without 
great personal inconvenience and loss, I could not consent to be- 
come a candidate. 

The people of West Virginia have been kind to me, and I owe 
them a debt of gratitude. They have always nominated and 
elected me whenever I have been a candidate. I would like to 
serve them in any way I consistently can, but cannot at the com- 
ing election be a candidate for Governor. 

I deem it fair to my friends and party associates that I should 
make this public expression, so that they may be advised of my 
decision in the premises. 

It is known that, among other things, I am engaged with others 
in building a north-and-south line of railroad through the State, 
which is regarded, in a measure, as a public advantage, as it will 
largely develop the resources of the State and add to its wealth 
and prosperity. It is feared by my associates and myself that 



144 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

my candidacy would interfere with the proper care and prosecu- 
tion of this enterprise. 

I hope and believe that the Convention will select and elect a 
worthy, sound, and progressive man, identified with West Vir- 
ginia and its development, who will work for the advancement 
of the people and the progress of the State. 

Notwithstanding the personal friendship to which Mr. 
Davis referred in his journal entry describing General 
Harrison's nomination, he entered aggressively into the 
campaign to defeat the Republican ticket. The guber- 
natorial question having been disposed of, he was free 
to give his energies toward the reelection of President 
Cleveland, and this he did. He had misgivings, how- 
ever, that the tariff issue would defeat the Democrats, 
and these were confirmed when the election returns were 
in. He thought that his own State would be close, but 
it went with the rest of the country and its electoral 
vote was recorded for the Republican candidates. Mr. 
Davis accepted the result philosophically, as he always 
did political reverses. 

The friendship which General Harrison entertained 
for him was in no way affected by their political differ- 
ences, and in December, by invitation, he made a visit 
to the President-elect at Indianapolis. The newspapers 
were filled with accounts of the visit and speculation as 
to what it meant. Mr. Davis's own explanation was 
given in his journal : 

December 26, 1888. On 23d I left Baltimore for short visit 
to General Harrison and family. Arrived 11.30 p.m. Mr. Mc- 
Kee met me at the depot. Found General and Mrs. H. waiting 
up to receive me ; they were very kind and good. I return on 
Monday evening. They asked and insisted upon my staying un- 
til Tuesday, which was Christmas. Newspapers have consider- 
able to say about my visit. It was partly social, partly in inter- 
ests of Mr. Elkins for War Department and Blaine for Secre- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 145 

tary of State. The Harrison family and mine have been good 
and close friends for 8 or lo years. I think Mrs, Harrison one 
of the best women I ever knew. 

The inauguration of General Harrison, with comment 
on the weather, was almost as briefly described as the 
similar entry and comment on Mr. Cleveland's inaugura- 
tion, four years earlier. It ran thus : 

March 4, 1889. General B. Harrison, Republican, is to-day 
inaugurated as President U. S. He is a good and valued friend 
of mine and our family. It was expected he would make Mr. 
Elkins member of his Cabinet, but he did not. Messrs. Blaine 
and Windom are our friends. This is a very disagreeable day; 
it rained nearly all last night and this morning. Four o'clock — 
not raining, but cold and disagreeable. 

Though President Harrison did not make Mr. Elkins 
a member of his Cabinet at the beginning of his ad- 
ministration, because of the complications, geographical 
and political, that usually beset Cabinet-making, he did 
this two years later. Mr. Elkins then became Secretary 
of War. Mr. Davis, while continuing his friendly per- 
sonal relations with President Harrison, now found him- 
self in stronger political opposition, since there was a 
national administration of the other party in power and 
to be held responsible. Yet he was not entirely in sym- 
pathy with the leading elements in his own party. He 
doubted the expediency of making Mr. Cleveland the 
candidate in 1892, although he recognized that the re- 
action over the extreme high-tariff legislation embodied 
in the McKinley bill would be favorable to the Demo- 
crats. He believed that Senator Gorman would be the 
strongest man for the nomination as representing the 
conservative element which entertained moderate views 
on the tariff. As usual, he was selected as one of the 



146 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

delegates from West Virginia to the Democratic Na- 
tional Convention. His journal, after noting the nom- 
ination of Harrison and Reid by the Republican Na- 
tional Convention, has this entry : 

June 20, 1892. I am at Chicago attending Democratic Con- 
vention. I went out in interest of Senator Gorman. It was 
plain from time of our arrival that ex-President Cleveland had 
a majority of delegates. I returned the second day of conven- 
tion, expecting Cleveland to be nominated on first ballot, which 
was done. 

During the campaign Mr. Davis made a number of 
political addresses in support of his party candidates, 
State, Congressional, and national. In a speech at 
Piedmont the Saturday evening before election he said 
that the Force bill was the leading issue, and, while 
eulogizing General Harrison as a man, declared that 
his principles were wrong and he was to be blamed for 
that bill. The dangers of centralization, if the Republi- 
cans were continued in power, was another issue on 
which he urged the Democrats to support their candi- 
dates. On the tariff he declared that the Republicans 
were wrong in claiming that the Democrats were in 
favor of taking the duty oif coal, and that the Republi- 
cans were responsible for the legislation reducing the 
rate on that product. He closed this address by intro- 
ducing William L. Wilson and urging that he be sup- 
ported for Congress. 

The disrupting and antagonistic tendencies in the 
Democratic party during President Cleveland's second 
term were not pleasing to Mr. Davis with his conserva- 
tism and his constructive ideas. He was not in sym- 
pathy with either element in the party at that time, and 
in his own State he was out of touch with those who 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 147 

were in control of the party organization. The poHti- 
cal condition known as the Bryan campaign was ap- 
proaching. 

Mr. Davis was not a delegate to either the Democratic 
National Convention in 1896 or that in 1900, but he kept 
his party allegiance and supported the national ticket 
in both campaigns. He made several political ad- 
dresses in support of Bryan and Sewall in 1896, and 
wrote a letter to the Wheeling Register supporting the 
platform declaration for free silver. In this letter he 
declared that he did not fear the bad results that the 
Republicans claimed would follow Mr. Bryan's elec- 
tion. Regarding the tariff he said that, in his judg- 
ment, the interests of the people were best served by a 
moderate revenue tariff with incidental protection. He 
made a speech at Elkins in which he said he could not 
agree with all that had been said and done at Chicago, 
but he urged support of the ticket. 

When Mr. Bryan came into West Virginia on his 
meteoric speaking trip, a meeting was held at Keyser 
at which Mr. Davis presided and made a speech in- 
dorsing the candidate and saying that his youth was no 
objection to him. He also said, speaking as a busi- 
ness man, that the business of the country would be in 
no danger from his election. Mr. Bryan in his speech, 
after complimenting Mr. Davis, referred especially to 
his age and experience and his standing in the business 
world. 

"I am glad," said Mr. Bryan, "this man, ex-Senator 
Davis, living in the East, is not afraid to trust the 
executive office in the hands of a man who has always 
lived in the West. I am glad that this man of mature 
years is not afraid of those who have not reached that 
age in life. I am glad that one of the richest men in 



148 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

your State is not afraid to trust the government in the 
hands of the people. His position protects him from at- 
tacks which are made against me. He has been a Sena- 
tor for twelve years ; therefore our opponents cannot call 
him an ignoramus or a novice in legislation. His prop- 
erty interests protect him from being called an anar- 
chist." 

A passing view of the trend of the campaign is given 
in some extracts from the journal which follow: 

Sept. 28, 1896. I have returned from trip to Baltimore, Phil- 
adelphia, New York, and Washington. This is presidential year. 
All the Eastern States, especially money centers, are for Mc- 
Kinley and gold standard. Western States appear to be all for 
Bryan and double standard, gold and silver. I am for double 
standard and Bryan ; I have written a letter on the subject to the 
Wheeling Register. Candidate Bryan is to speak at Keyser on 
30th. I am to introduce him, also preside. 

October i, 1896. Yesterday Bryan, Democratic candidate for 
President, came from Washington on B & O, spoke at Harper's 
Ferry, Martinsburg, Hancock, Cumberland, Keyser, and Graf- 
ton. I met Mr. Bryan at Cumberland. I was chairman, and 
introduced Mr. Bryan to the great crowd of people (at Keyser). 
Bryan spoke about 40 minutes. Estimated people present at 
4,500. Rain and flood keep some away. 

October 23, 1896. The political pot is boiling hot. Political 
meetings numerous. Mr. Elkins is giving all his time to elec- 
tioneering and speaking for McKinley. I am for Bryan ; have 
written a letter supporting Democratic ticket. Am giving finan- 
cial aid. Many invitations, but have not made a speech. It 
looks like Republicans will succeed in New York ; betting is 
about 3 to I on McKinley. West Virginia and Maryland are 
doubtful States, chances in favor of Republicans. 

Nov. 2, 1896. To-morrow is election day. Democrats claim 
West Virginia and the election of Bryan. Republicans claim and 
feel sure of West Virginia and the election of McKinley. Bet- 
ting in New York and Chicago is about three to one in favor of 
McKinley. Senator Elkins says West Virginia and the coun- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 149 

try for McKinley. I say, West Virginia and result doubtful. 
November 5. Presidential and State elections over. Repub- 
licans carry nearly all. McKinley about 300 electoral votes ; 224 
to elect. Majority on popular vote large. West Va. gives Mc- 
Kinley, also State ticket, about 12,000 majority; legislature about 
two thirds Republican. 

In the mid-period of the Congressional and State elec- 
tions Mr. Davis still continued to work for his party's 
success. In February, 1898, several newspapers began 
advocating his nomination for Governor, but he dis- 
couraged the movement. In August he presided over 
the Democratic Convention, which met at Elkins, and 
during the campaign he made several speeches. In the 
one he delivered at Piedmont he reviewed the general 
political outlook and gave some attention to the new 
question which had arisen as a consequence of the war 
with Spain to free Cuba. He said that the Republicans 
advocated the retention of all the conquered territory, 
and that this meant a colonial system, a new and dan- 
gerous principle in our government, a radical depart- 
ure from our traditional policy altogether inconsistent 
with the Monroe Doctrine. He declared himself against 
the retention of the Philippines. 

In this campaign Mr. Davis felt a close personal in- 
terest, because his brother. Colonel T. B. Davis, had 
been nominated to fill a vacancy in the House of Rep- 
resentatives. In his journal he recorded his gratifica- 
tion that his brother overcame a Republican majority 
of 290 and was elected by 186 votes. 

The Legislature chosen at this election was of a 
mixed political character, reflecting the factional situa- 
tion in both of the leading political parties in West Vir- 
ginia. It was a question as to which party would suc- 
ceed in choosing the United States Senator. Mr. Davis 



150 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

always had been able to secure Republican votes, and 
many of his friends thought that he would be the best 
man to present as the Democratic candidate. There 
were, however, ambitious Democrats who were close 
personal friends of Mr. Davis, and who had been his 
political lieutenants, that sought the nomination. There 
was also the fact that Mr. Elkins, his son-in-law, was 
a Republican United States Senator. 

In his journal Mr. Davis records in November that 
he was asked by many to be a candidate, but had not 
said yes or no. A fortnight later he notes that, after 
a talk in which John T. McGraw and C. W. Dailey said 
they were for him, he told them he would not be a 
candidate. Under date of December 24, 1898, he writes 
in the journal : 

The West Virginia senatorial canvass is hot. It is generally 
understood that I am not a candidate. Also, if I was I would 
receive Democratic vote. 

Ultimately Nathan B. Scott, Republican, was elected 
Senator. 

In the Presidential campaign of 1900 Mr. Davis again 
supported Bryan. He acted as chairman of the Demo- 
cratic State Convention, which met at Parkersburg, and 
made a speech along the lines of opposition to imperial- 
ism and the Philippine policy of the Republicans. His 
personal interest in the election this year again re- 
lated to the candidacy of his brother. Colonel T. B. Davis, 
who had been renominated, and who was elected. In 
his journal entry, under date of November 5, 1900, his 
views on the national outlook were recorded to the ef- 
fect that it looked to him as if McKinley would be 
elected President. The outcome he summarized in this 
manner : 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 151 

November 7, 1900, Elections, national and State, yesterday. 
Republicans carried nearly everything by large majority. I voted 
for Bryan, but it was a choice of evils. Hope this is the end of 
Bryanism. 

But eight years later Mr. Davis was again to support 
Bryan for President. 



CHAPTER X 

SOCIAL LIFE AT DEER PARK AND WASHINGTON 

Building a summer home in the Alleghany wilderness — 
Glimpses of the mountain farm — Mr. Davis's love of country life 
— Sowing oats and buckwheat — Shearing the sheep — Evolution of 
Deer Park into the summer capital — Distinguished visitors — 
Senatorial guests — Cardinal Gibbons — Ex-President Grant — 
President Cleveland's honeymoon — Fishing and other incidents 
— President Harrison and his family — Social side of ofificial life 
in Washington — White House dinners — New Year's receptions — 
Entertainments for Senator Davis at the end of his term — Resi- 
dence in Baltimore — First state dinner of President and Mrs. 
Cleveland. 

THE intimate family, social, political, and business 
life of Mr. Davis for a quarter of a century al- 
ternated between Deer Park and Washington. 
The vast tracts of timberlands in Garrett County, Mary- 
land, which he and his brother purchased at the close of 
the Civil War, were traversed by the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, but it was unbroken wilderness that was thus 
crossed. In the heart of these forest lands he deter- 
mined to build a summer home on the crest of the Alle- 
ghanies. The home was actually an extensive farm 
for which the greater part of the lands had to be cleared. 
The wild deer had roamed through the region and when 
a railway station was esta'blished it was fittingly named 
Deer Park. The beautiful animals for many years 
slaked their thirst in the stream that ran through the 
Davis grounds. 

152 




Colonel Thomas B. Davis 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 153 

It is at Deer Park that the best evidences are afforded 
of Mr. Davis's love for the open and of his fondness for 
farm life. It is here, too, that he appears as a practical 
farmer as well as a pioneer lumberman and railway 
builder. He opened the homestead in the spring of 
1867, and continued to live there during the summer 
months until 1892, when he removed to Elkins. 

The entries in his journal during the earlier part of 
this period offer many pleasing pictures of the practical 
farmer in the midst of congenial surroundings, fre- 
quently noting the weather conditions and prospects, as 
every farmer must do, plowing, sowing, and harvesting 
different crops, opening new lands, experimenting with 
new varieties of grains, looking after the various farm 
animals, and not forgetting the farm garden. 

Incidental to these farming operations are the de- 
velopment of the lumber business, installing new saw- 
mills, laying tramways, and marketing the product. 
There are also numerous prospecting trips into adjoin- 
ing forest regions, with shrewd comment on their na- 
ture, and often details of purchases and sales. The 
picture of farm life is a minute one, with few of the 
details left out. Excerpts from some of the journal 
entries give the outlines: 

April 26, 1867. Moved to Deer Park. 

April 29. Sowed a few oats on hill in front of house. 

May 4. Weather so wet we cannot sow oats. 

May 8. Ground white with snow. We have sowed about 
twenty bushels of oats. 

Our mill, Greenwood, was commenced last week in March. 
About April 15, sawed some little lumber. May ist just begin- 
ning to work right. 

May 13. There have been 3 or 4 close days. We are sowing 
oats in the glade in front of house. Brother Thomas is here. 

May 17. Received cow and calf from Mr. Thompson. We 



154 THE LIFE AND TIAIES OF 

finished sowing oats to-day. The carpenters are about done on 
our house. 

May 20. We have planted nearly all our garden. 

May 30. We counted our sheep, and marked them. All 
marked "H D." Wethers have an additional H on shoulder. 
Young lambs have D on shoulder. We have 134 total sheep. 
Our mark is crop of left ear and undercut on right. We will 
turn our sheep out to-morrow. 

June 17. Bought of E. Bell 200.80 acres of land on hill join- 
ing Lawson tract at $20, all timber-land. 

June 21. Sowed buckwheat in the meadow on Black Run. 

June 25. Sowed buckwheat on hill. 

August 31. Considerable frost last night; fear our buckwheat 
has been killed. 

September i. Frost killed buckwheat here, but not on high 
ground. 

October 25. Examined trees bought and planted last spring; 
found dead two apple trees, eight dwarf pears, two plums, one 
cherry, one quince. This is as near as I can tell; may not be 
quite correct. 

November 2. We send cattle and colts to New Creek to winter. 

November 18. Mrs. Davis closed our house for the season. 
We are still plowing. 

December 2. Weather cold ; snow in the glades, and we have 
to stop plowing. 

The first season on the new homestead was thus closed, 
but during the winter various purchases of implements 
were recorded with a view to the following season, and 
early in the next spring the family returned to the farm. 
Its cultivation continued to receive the personal atten- 
tion of Mr. Davis, notwithstanding his absorption in 
larger business enterprises. Some of the incidents of 
the season are thus set forth: 

April 18, 1868. Weather good. We sow oats, also commence 
plowing on glade hill. 

April 25. Weather has been cold but good since 20th. We, 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 



oD 



this morning, commenced sowing oats. Sowed black oat? in 
front of Mr. Tillson's, and opposite, on other side of Zock. We 
also sow blue grass and timothy on some ground. 

April 27. Weather good ; we are still sowing oats. T. B. 
Davis sent 20 cattle, 12 mules, making 32. 

May 12. Still sowing oats and plowing. Weather cool, and 
looks like rain. We planted or sowed China wheat to-day; it is 
something new. 

May 15. Cloudy and raining. John Rhine brought up two 
mares and colts ; 24 calves. 

May 23. Have been plowing and sowing oats for two days. 
I was stopped this evening by rain. One day more will let us 
finish. 

May 26. Fine day ; we are sowing oats. 

May 27. Close, warm rain; hard in the evening. Sheared 
and counted sheep to-day — 47 ewes, 4 wethers, 2 rams, 13 ewe 
lambs. 

June 16. No rain since last of May, three weeks. 

June 18. Sowed some buckwheat in the wet places in glade. 
New sawmill about ready to saw. 

August 2. We commence cutting oats. 

August 13. Some frost last night; bit slightly buckwheat in 
the glade. 

November 20. Quite a snow-storm. 

December 2. About two inches of snow on the ground; we 
stop plowing. We leave Deer Park for the winter. 

Subsequent seasons widened the farm work, but al- 
ways it had the direct oversight of Mr. Davis. In the 
midst of poHtical conferences, service in the State Leg- 
islature and the United States Senate, railway building, 
purchases of coal and timber lands involving millions of 
dollars, he continued to give his attention to the farm. 
His journal records that on May 5, 1870, the weather 
was good, that they finished sowing oats, and that "the 
last sowed was Poland oats, near the barn." Early in 
August, 1875, he notes that the army worm had made 
its appearance in oats and corn, doing great damage. A 



156 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

week later he records that they commenced cutting oats, 
though quite green, to prevent the army worm from 
eating them up. The loss to the farmer is thus indi- 
cated : 

We will make but little more than our seed, owing to army 
worm. 

How greatly the Deer Park farm had expanded and 
become something more than a farm is indicated in an 
entry under date of May 12, 1878: 

On yesterday Professor Baird sent to Deer Park a fine lot of 
young salmon trout. We put 11,000 salmon in ice pond near 
house, 2,000 trout in pond near barn, 1,000 in little pond, 1,000 
trout in Pond Big Run. 

Other consignments of salmon and trout from the 
Smithsonian Institution are also noted at later dates. 

Some of the incidents of farming in the later years are 
thus described: 

September i, 1879. This is a fine morning. We are done 
stacking oats. Are now cutting second grass crop, which is 
good; first crop was bad or short. 

September i, 1881. This has been a dry summer, but our 
oats, buckwheat, and hay crops are good. We are raising about 
6,000 bushels, weighing 34 lbs. to the bushel, 300 bushels of buck- 
wheat, 300 tons of hay. 

July 12, 1882, We are cutting grass ; it is only tolerable good. 
Grass near house is very good, but north or west hills are bad 
or short. 

Mingled with the notes on the crops and other inci- 
dents of farming, after the first few seasons, there are 
increasingly frequent entries regarding social affairs, 
in which the names of distinguished men of the nation 
are given as visitors. These entries mark the trans- 
formation of the Alleghany summit from a wilderness 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 157 

into one of the great mountain resorts of the county. 
This transformation really was largely the evolution of 
the Davis farm and timber tracts, for it was Mr. Davis 
who saw its advantages and who planned and carried 
forward its development. At his instance, John W. 
Garrett, who was then president of the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad, examined the region and was so im- 
pressed with its attractiveness that he built a summer 
home for himself there, while his son, T. Harrison Gar- 
rett, built another. He went further than this, and in 
conjunction with Mr. Davis erected a large summer ho- 
tel and numerous cottages to provide for the summer 
guests who began coming to Deer Park. 

All through these years the kindly and unostentatious 
hospitality of Mr. Davis and his family had been ex- 
tended to their friends both in public and in private 
life. In a short time Deer Park had become the summer 
capital of the nation. Railway officials found it con- 
venient to spend the heated months there. To Baltimore 
and Washington especially it was a haven of rest, easily 
accessible and therefore sought. 

It was there that the messenger from the Vatican, 
Count Mucciola, brought the notification from Pope Leo 
XIII which raised His Grace, Archbishop Gibbons, to 
His Eminence, James, Cardinal Gibbons, the second 
American Cardinal. Thither came the leaders of both 
parties in Congress, escaping the heat of Washington 
for brief periods, most of them as guests of Senator 
Davis and his family. Rarely did a week-end pass 
without the Senator bringing a number of his colleagues. 
There, too, came Presidents of the United States for 
rest and recreation and former Presidents as well. 

Some of the incidents of these visits of distinguished 
men are given as recorded in the journal: 



158 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF. 

July 10, 1875. Judge and Mrs. Thurman of Ohio arrive 
They expect to spend two weeks with us. 

July II. General Bristow, Secretary of the Treasury, Judge 
Pierpont, Attorney-General, and Governor Dennison of Ohio 
took tea with us to meet Judge and Mrs. Thurman. 

June 6, 1881. Mr. W. W. Corcoran [the philanthropist] and 
Carter Robbins are here on first visit of a few days. We are 
glad to have our friend Corcoran with us. 

June 25. Hon. Wm. Windom and wife made us a visit from 
Saturday to Monday. They are close friends of ours. 

June 2^. Hon. A. P. Gorman, Senator of Maryland and my 
first cousin, made us a visit. 

September 3, 1883. Senator T. F. Bayard and two daugh- 
ters have been on a visit to us for nearly a week. They left 
yesterday for home. During their stay here several entertain- 
ments were given them. One at Mr. T. Harrison Garrett's was 
a nice affair. 

Ex-Senator McDonald (of Indiana) and wife have been at 
the hotel for some time. Bayard and McDonald met and talked 
several times at our house. Rode and drove together. Both 
are prominent candidates for Democratic nomination for Presi- 
dent next year. 

September 8. Mr. Bayard wrote me a very friendly and kind 
letter, telling what a pleasant visit he had with us. 

August II, 1884. Senator Pendleton of Ohio left us yester- 
day. He paid us a visit of a few days. We like him very much. 

September 15. Ex-Senator Barnum (of Connecticut) made 
us a short visit Sunday last. 

Senator John Sherman was another visitor, usually 
one of the guests on a week-end trip from Washington, 
while General U. S. Grant and Mrs. Grant came as the 
guests of Mr. and Mrs. Elkins in the midsummer of 
1883 and remained for several days. 

A Presidential honeymoon was one of the incidents 
resulting from Deer Park's attractiveness and the rep- 
utation for hospitality that its leading resident had given 
it. The story of the honeymoon, which at the time 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 159 

filled columns of the newspapers, is given with idyllic 
brevity by Senator Davis in his journal entries: 

May 22, 1886. President Cleveland sent for me through 
Colonel Lamont, his private secretary ; told me he is to be mar- 
ried early in June, and asked me to arrange so he can go to Deer 
Park with bride and spend a week. The marriage and place 
they go is known to but very few ; newspapers have not yet got 
hold of it. 

June 2. I came to Baltimore last evening. Stopped at Wash- 
ington and saw Secretary Lamont and President Cleveland. 
Presdt. marries Miss Folsom this evening, and goes to Deer Park 
to-night to spend a week or two. 

June 8. President Cleveland and bride. Miss Folsom that was, 
came here last Thursday morning, the 3d. They occupied one of 
the B & O Railroad cottages. Weather has been fine. Mrs. 
Davis and I call. President and Mrs. Cleveland return our visit. 
About three o'clock Mrs. Davis and I go over to President's cot- 
tage and take President and Mrs. Cleveland a drive to Oakland. 
At night we call to see the President and Mrs. Cleveland. 

Saturday, June 5. President and Mrs. C. went to Bantz at 
Deep Creek to fish ; we caught a fair lot of trout. Sunday Pres- 
ident and Mrs. C, Colonel Lamont, and Mrs. L., Mrs. Davis and 
I went to Oakland to church. Sunday evening President and 
Mrs. C, Colonel Lamont, and Mrs. L. dine with us at seven 
o'clock. Monday President and Colonel Lamont took my moun- 
tain wagon and horses and went to Leeland's place on Deep 
Creek ; got about 50 trout. 

There were other fishing trips, and the family legend 
is that young John Davis, who was often one of the 
party, usually saw part of his catch transferred to the 
President's basket without Mr. Cleveland's knowledge. 

In the newspaper accounts of the honeymoon, it was 
told how President Cleveland and his wife in the early 
morning were seen wending their way up to the sawdust 
walk leading to the Davis cottage, throwing aside all 
ceremony and instead of waiting for the first call paying 



i6o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

a visit themselves, thus reheving the ex-Senator of any 
embarrassment that he might have felt in the matter of 
calling on the newly married couple. There was also 
an undercurrent of political talk at the time, growing 
out of the resignation of Daniel Manning as Secretary 
of the Treasury, and the possibility that President Cleve- 
land might ask ex-Senator Davis to take the vacant 
place. The end of the visit was told in the journal entry 
of June 8 in this manner : 

President and Mrs. C, Colonel Lamont, Mrs. Davis, Kate and 
I drive to Boiling Spring. At one o'clock President and party 
left on special train for Washington. President said he had a 
very pleasant visit and might return during the summer. 

The forerunner of another Presidential guest at Deer 
Park is found in several notes of visits by Senator Ben- 
jamin Harrison. The friendship between the Davis and 
the Harrison families was an intimate one and was the 
more cherished because of the difference in politics of 
the heads of the two families. In August, 1887, Mr. 
Davis recorded in his journal: 

General and Mrs. Harrison of Indiana are staying with us. 
Have been here a week or more, and will remain a week longer. 
Mrs. Davis and I gave them a dinner. 

There were subsequent visits, and after General Har- 
rison became President he found relief from official cares 
in going to Deer Park, although at the time he humor- 
ously explained that, while the office-seekers did not in- 
trude on him there, nevertheless an unusually large 
number of people seemed to happen in at Deer Park in 
order to pay their respects. The incidents of President 
Harrison's visit the first summer following his inaugura- 
tion are recorded in this pleasing manner : 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS i6i 

July 3, 1889. Mrs. McKee, daughter of Presdt. Harrison, has 
been with us several days, arranging and fixing up cottage for 
President and Mrs. Harrison. Mrs. Harrison and party came 
to Deer Park to-day and went direct to their cottage. We give 
Mrs. H. an Alderney cow and Mrs. McKee an Alderney calf. 

July 12. President Harrison came from Washington to-day 
and joined Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. McKee. Secretary and Mrs. 
Windom and daughter also came, and are our guests. 

July 26. Attorney-General Miller came on 24th to make us a 
visit of several days. 

July 29. Attorney-General Miller left for Washington to-day. 
He made himself very agreeable. 

President and Mrs. Harrison have been quite friendly, coming 
to our house often, and we are going to their cottage, sometimes 
to meals. 

August 31. At seven-thirty we expect the President and Mrs. 
Harrison to dinner with us. Have invited fourteen or sixteen 
persons. 

Among the guests at this dinner were various public 
men and their wives and sevei-al railway ofBcials of 
national reputation. 

At this period Cardinal Gibbons was in the habit of 
seeking rest at Deer Park, and was an occasional guest 
of the Davis family. He met President Harrison at 
an informal dinner given by Mr. Davis. The delicate 
question of etiquette was solved by seating the Cardinal 
on the left of the host with the President on the right. 

The Davis hospitality at Deer Park during these 
years was a reflex of the hospitality extended at Wash- 
ington. Some passing glimpses of official functions at 
the national capital are given in the journal entries. 
Among these functions during the first part of the Sena- 
torial career was a state dinner by President Grant at 
the White House which Senator Davis had not expected 
to attend, Mrs. Davis being ill at the time, and the in- 
vitation to dine with the President being nevertheless 



i62 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF. 

a command, the Senator found it necessary to make a 
personal call on President Grant and explain the cir- 
cumstances. A state dinner at the White House dur- 
ing the term of President Hayes, in February, 1879, is 
described in this way: 

Mrs. Davis and I dined with President and Mrs. Hayes at 
seven; it was a state dinner. We, at about ten o'clock, got 
through and went to British Minister's, Sir Edward Thornton, 
to a reception. 

At that period the social side of official life was some- 
what restricted, owing to the lack of facilities for en- 
tertainment. Representatives and Senators in Con- 
gress, Cabinet officers, and other officials lived mostly 
in boarding-houses or hotels. A few Senators and Rep- 
resentatives rented their homes, but for a member of 
Congress to own a house in Washington was to risk his 
political future, -because the folks at home would not 
understand. 

During a large part of his senatorial term Senator 
Davis and his family lived at the Arlington Hotel. 
Many of the leading public men also made their homes 
there, while distinguished strangers, such as the Em- 
peror Dom Pedro and the Grand Duke Alexis, were 
entertained at the Arlington during their visit. The 
family thus was in the very center of official life. 

At that time the New Year's reception at the White 
House was the function of a public character which in- 
augurated the social season, and the making of New 
Year's calls was as much a part of Congressional life 
as attending the sessions of the House and Senate. A 
New Year's day toward the close of the senatorial career 
is thus described : 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 163 

January i, 1881. This has been an unusually cold, stormy 
winter, with much snow ; it is said to be the coldest winter for 

years. 

Mrs. Davis, Hallie, and others received callers at Arlington 
parlor ; more than lOO callers came. I make about twenty calls, 
among them Secretary Schurz, Sherman, and Ramsey. Also 
General Sherman, Senators Pendleton, Kernan, Windom, Allison, 
Bayard, Edmunds, and Beck. 

Senator Davis, besides the entertainments given by 
himself and Mrs. Davis, was a frequent giver of din- 
ners for gentlemen. One of these at Wormley's, which 
was then famous for its colored owner and for its good 
cheer, included Mr. Blaine, a large number of his col- 
leagues in the Senate, and some prominent railroad of- 
ficials. 

Toward the close of his second term, when it was 
definitely determined that he was retiring from public 
life, a series of dinners were given in honor of the Sen- 
ator and Mrs. Davis by his colleagues. One was by 
Senator Gorman, one by Senator Bayard, and another 
by Mr. Blaine. A few lines in the journal tell the story 
of the Blaine dinner, though it was a very notable one: 

February 24, 1883. Ex-Secretary Blaine at his new house 
gave Mrs. Davis and me a dinner; commence at seven and one 
half; return home eleven o'clock. Left dinner table about ten. 
Guests, Senator and Mrs. Allison, Senator and Mrs. Windom, 
Senator and Mrs. Gorman, Justice and Mrs. Miller, Senator 
Bayard, Senator Camden, and General Sherman. 

After his retirement from the Senate, Mr. Davis, on 
account of his business interests, for a time made his 
winter home in Baltimore. He entertained there with 
his customary hospitality and his former colleagues were 
frequent guests at his table. The friendship with Mr. 



i64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Blaine was cemented by several visits. One of these is 
thus described: 

March 13, 1884. Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Blaine came over from 
Washington to dine with us. There were present Mrs. Benjamin 
Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Gary, Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Hamble- 
ton, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Spencer, Mr. and Mrs. Elkins, Gen- 
eral FeHx Agnus, and our daughter Kate ; fifteen in all. 

After a few years Washington again became the win- 
ter home and the social life at the national capital was 
resumed. It was during this period of residence in 
Washington that the sequel of President Cleveland's 
honeymoon occurred in the form of the first state din- 
ner. The story of this social event is given in full in a 
newspaper excerpt pasted in the journal, with this com- 
ment under date of January 21, 1887: ''Mrs. Davis 
and I attended dinner given by President and Mrs. 
Cleveland. It was a grand affair. See preceding 
page." 

The newspaper account runs: 

At seven-thirty o'clock to-night the guests assembled for the 
first White House state dinner this winter, which was also the first 
at which its young mistress has presided. It was given for the 
Cabinet, and was noteworthy as the first appearance of Mrs. 
Lamar, bride of the Secretary of the Interior. . . . The bride of 
the White House wore for the first time one of the most elab- 
orate dresses of her trousseau, a pale blue silk starred with silver 
daisies and veiled in clouds of tulle. 

The order of escort to the table was as follows: The Presi- 
dent and Mrs. Manning, the Secretary of the Navy and Mrs. 
Lamar, Lieutenant-General Sheridan and Mrs. Fitzhugh Lee, 
Ex-Senator H. G. Davis and Mrs. August Belmont, Commodore 
Harmony and Mrs. Goodyear of Buffalo, Governor Lee of Vir- 
ginia and Mrs. Andrew of Massachusetts, the President of the 
Senate and Mrs. Sheridan, the Secretary of the Treasury and 
Mrs. Endicott, the former being Mrs. Cleveland's left-hand neigh- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 165 

bor, while at her right sat her escort, the Secretary of State. 
Beyond these, still at Mrs. Cleveland's right, were the Postmaster- 
General and Mrs. John Sherman, the Speaker of the House and 
Mrs. Harmony, Assistant Secretary Fairchild and Mrs. Davis of 
West Virginia, Senator Beck and Mrs. Sicard of Buffalo. Mr. 
John A. Andrew and Mrs. Fairchild, the Secretary of the In- 
terior and Mrs. Carlisle, the Secretary of War and Mrs. Vilas, 
who was the President's left-hand mate. 

Further chapters in the social life in Washington in 
which Mr. Davis participated might be written, but it 
is well to end the chronicle with the golden memories of 
those gracious days of President Cleveland and his 
bride in the White House. 



CHAPTER XI 

VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION AND AFTER 

State of the Democratic party in 1904 — Revival of conservative 
forces — Mr. Davis a delegate to the St. Louis Convention — Cleve- 
land elements in control — Mr. Bryan's fight in the Platform Com- 
mittee for silver — Compromise by omission — Judge Parker's 
nomination for President — Mr. Davis's story of his own nomina- 
tion for Vice-President — Welcome by his neighbors at Elkins — 
Turn given the campaign by Judge Parker's gold telegram — Ob- 
jections to Mr. Davis on the score of age — Notification at White 
Sulphur Springs — Speech by John Sharp Williams — Response — 
Campaigning at eighty-one — Philosophic acceptance of result — 
Activities during the four years that followed — Urged by his 
party in West Virginia for various offices — Reasons for declining 
— Delegate to the Baltimore Convention in 1912 — Support of 
Wilson and Marshall 

AFTER two national campaigns in which it had 
met defeat, the state of the Democratic party 
in the nation in 1904 was not encouraging. 
The inevitable reaction had occurred. Free silver, un- 
der Mr. Bryan, had not won in 1896. The same general 
attitude, together with opposition to imperialism, had 
not brought victory in 1900. The radical forces in the 
party having been in control and having failed, the con- 
servative forces were now becoming influential. 

It was apparent that Mr. Bryan was about to be 
displaced from his leadership. This was to be done un- 
der the element in the party which was known as the 
Cleveland Democracy, although it included many prom- 
inent party leaders who never had been Cleveland Dem- 

166 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 167 

ocrats. All these forces were united in their determina- 
tion to free the organization from the silver issue. They 
believed that this question had been settled for good 
and therefore should be eliminated if the party was to 
have any chance of success. The desire to get back 
into power was also a strong motive for burying the 
dead issue by many who originally had believed in it. 

In West Virginia, as in other sections of the country, 
the conservative forces in the Democratic party began 
to assert themselves, and thus in a natural way the 
leadership of Mr. Davis was again sought. Having 
supported free silver and Mr. Bryan in both campaigns, 
he was not unacceptable to the following of Mr. Bryan 
in the State, although he was opposed to what were 
called the Bryan tendencies. The prevailing sentiment 
found expression in the first instance in suggestions that 
he accept the nomination for Governor. Various en- 
tries in his journal refer to this sentiment. In one case 
he remarks that he is being urged to be a candidate, but 
says to all that he is not a candidate and not hunting for 
a job. Again he says he is being urged to accept the 
nomination for Governor, but has not agreed to do so. 

The Democratic State Convention met at Charleston 
in April, 1904, to select the candidates for Governor and 
other State officers, and to choose delegates to the Na- 
tional Convention at St. Louis. Mr. Davis was a po- 
tent figure at this convention. In his speech he said: 

*'An important part of our duty is to select conserva- 
tive, representative Democrats as delegates to the Na- 
tional Convention at St. Louis. Let us name good men 
without reference to past differences of opinion. In the 
coming election we are likely to have a strong, popular, 
and conservative candidate in the person of Gorman or 
Parker." 



i68 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Mr. Davis had been exerting his influence to secure 
delegates favorable to Senator Gorman, and this was 
made apparent when the delegates-at-large and the dis- 
trict delegates were chosen, twelve of the delegation be- 
ing for Gorman and two for William R. Hearst. Mr, 
Davis was placed at the head of the delegation. The 
other delegates-at-large were former Senator Johnson 
N. Camden, former Governor William A. MacCorkle 
and the Hon. Owen S. McKinney. 

When the National Convention met at St. Louis early 
in July, the nominee virtually had been selected in the 
person of Judge Alton B. Parker of the New York Court 
of Appeals. A careful literary campaign had been con- 
ducted for months with the purpose of making him 
known to the public at large. Antagonistic leaders sup- 
ported him. Former President Cleveland had indorsed 
him in newspaper interviews and former Governor 
David B. Hill was in personal charge of his campaign. 
The vital struggle in the Convention, therefore, was not 
to be over the candidate, but over the platform. 

It was known that the supporters of Judge Parker 
were likely to have their way ; yet many of the delegates 
were not quite ready to ignore their past record on sil- 
ver, or to accept the complete domination of the con- 
servative element in the party, since this element drew 
its main support from the East and therefore raised the 
sectional question. 

William J. Bryan appeared as a delegate from Ne- 
braska. The conditions were strikingly different from 
those that obtained at Chicago in 1896 when he had 
ridden the whirlwind and dominated the Convention. 
They were also strikingly different from those that were 
to obtain eight years later, when he was again to ride 
the whirlwind, dominate another National Convention, 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 169 

overthrow the candidate who had an actual majority 
of the delegates, and make possible the nomination of a 
candidate who had entered the Convention with little 
prospect of success. 

His political ascendancy was at its lowest ebb. In the 
early stages of the Convention the name of Mr. Cleve- 
land was wildly cheered, while Mr. Bryan's was re- 
ceived with coldness. However, he made an aggressive 
and undaunted fight, giving out interviews denouncing 
Judge Parker as the plutocratic candidate, and declar- 
ing that there should be no repudiation of the stand 
the party had taken in previous campaigns on silver. 

With the nomination of Judge Parker assured, the 
first battle over the platform was in the Committee on 
Resolutions. Mr. Davis was the West Virginia mem- 
ber of that committee, as he had been in many previous 
conventions. There was a sharp struggle over the tar- 
iff plank between the conservative and the radical tariff 
members. Mr. Bryan won on this plank. Some of the 
gold Democrats were in full agreement with his tariff 
views, but there were intimations that others who did 
not agree with him consented to it as a strategic move 
to oppose him on the silver question. Mr. Davis ac- 
quiesced in the phrasing of the tariff plank, although it 
was not entirely acceptable to him. 

The great struggle was on silver. The Eastern dele- 
gates insisted upon a recantation of the former pro- 
nouncements for silver and a declaration upholding the 
gold standard. Mr. Bryan, according to the newspa- 
per reports at the time, stood like a rock against such a 
declaration, and the committee was given to understand 
that if it was adopted he would bolt. A compromise 
plank was phrased, which recited in substance that the 
discoveries of gold during the last few years and the 



170 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

great increase in its production had contributed to the 
maintenance of a standard of value no longer open to 
question, removing that issue from the field of political 
contention. 

Mr. Bryan made an aggressive, determined fight 
against the adoption of this plank by the convention. 
When it became evident that no declaration framed on 
this line could be adopted, a sub-committee of three was 
appointed to devise an acceptable compromise. This 
sub-committee consisted of David B. Hill, John Sharp 
Williams, and Mr. Bryan himself. The newspaper re- 
ports of the sub-committee's meeting were to the effect 
that Mr. Bryan interposed his unyielding opposition to 
every proposal that included the faintest favorable men- 
tion of gold; and at last Mr. Williams, worn to the 
limit of endurance, exclaimed: 

"Gentlemen, we never can get together; let us omit 
the mention of money. Let us go back to the Conven- 
tion and report a plantform freed completely of this 
troublesome question." 

"That is satisfactory to me," said Mr. Bryan. 

"Will you support the ticket and platform?" asked 
Mr. Hill. 

"I certainly will," replied the Nebraskan. 

The Convention ratified this compromise platform, 
took a recess, and reassembled in the evening to listen 
to the nominating speeches. The voting began after 
midnight. Mr. Bryan made one of his electrifying 
speeches in opposing Judge Parker, and supporting Sen- 
ator F. M. Cockrell of Missouri. "I return to you the 
standard you gave me to bear," he thundered. "I may 
have failed in wisdom, and I may have lost the fight, 
but I defy any man to say that I have been false to 
my trust or untrue to the faith of Democracy." 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 171 

Judge Parker was nominated on the first ballot, and 
the Convention took a recess. The Parker leaders were 
in doubt regarding the most available candidate for 
Vice-President. Some of them inclined to former Gov- 
ernor Judson Harmon of Ohio, who had served in 
Cleveland's Cabinet and who represented the same con- 
servative tendencies that Judge Parker was assumed to 
represent. But John R. McLean, the owner of a pow- 
erful newspaper and himself a political factor of con- 
sequence in Ohio, was strongly opposed to Judge Har- 
mon. Governor Hill and others of the men represent- 
ing the dominant element consulted. Finally some one 
suggested Henry G. Davis of West Virginia. 

Having been for free silver, and having supported 
Bryan, it was felt that his nomination might sweeten 
the ticket for Mr. Bryan. At the same time his large 
financial interest and his conservatism would make 
him acceptable to the Eastern element of the party. 
Moreover, West Virginia was a doubtful State, and if 
it could be carried for the Democratic national ticket his 
personal popularity would be the means of carrying it. 
Search was begun for Mr. Davis and word was brought 
that he had left on his special car the evening before. 
Nevertheless it was decided to nominate him, and this 
was done when the Convention met after recess. A ^ 
telegram notifying him of the action of the Convention j 
reached him at Greenville, Ohio. 

Mr. Davis's own recital of the events that brought 
him into the vortex of national politics again is given 
with his customary terseness in the journal entries that 
follow : 

July 3, 1904. I go to St. Louis as a delegate-at-large from 
West Virginia. 

July 6. Democratic National Convention meets. W. Va. 



\72 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

delegation stands 12 for Senator Gorman, 2 for Hearst. Gorman 
refuses to let his name be presented to Convention. Consider- 
able sentiment among delegates for him. 

I am selected by W. Va. delegation on Committee on Resolu- 
tions. Senator Daniels, Virginia, is chairman sub-committee of 
ten. Among the members are Senator Hill of N. Y., Mr. Bryan, 
and myself. After two days' work and an all-night session, we 
get a unanimous report which is adopted by Convention. 

When platform was adopted I thought my work was done. I 
went to my car and started for home. On my way I was tele- 
graphed I was being voted for Vice-President. This was a great 
surprise to me. I was nominated on the first ballot, and made 
unanimous. 

July 10. Sunday. Came from St. Louis Democratic Conven- 
tion. Was met at Belington by a band which came to Elkins. 
Was met at depot by a thousand or more people and escorted 
home. 

This very modest statement gives a faint idea of the 
reception of the candidate. Politics were forgotten and 
he was received as a fellow citizen. C. Wood Dailey 
made a brief speech introducing him to the friends and 
neighbors who knew him so well. In replying to it he 
spoke with deep feeling, saying: 

"My strongest feeling at this moment is my gratifica- 
tion at this remarkable expression by the people of my 
own town of their kindly feeling and good will toward 
me personally. In this gathering I see many who do 
not hold my political faith, and among them our dis- 
tinguished fellow townsman, Senator Elkins. All this 
testifies there are some ties between them that for the 
time at least make them forget party politics and lead 
to the expression of personal feeling and regard. 

"It is the expression of your personal feeling for me 
for which I wish to thank you; and now, as it is Sun- 
day, and this besides is only for the expressions of feel- 
ing of kindly interest, let me retire, and in doing so I 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 173 

will introduce my friend Senator Elkins, who, differ 
with me as he may in politics, feels an interest in our 
town and rejoices in every honor that comes to it." 

Senator Elkins, in speaking briefly, said: 

"This quick gathering and cordial welcome is without 
party significance. It is the enthusiastic outburst and 
expression of the respect, confidence, admiration, and 
affection which neighbors and friends entertain for Sen- 
ator Davis, who has done so much to promote the 
growth of this town and the prosperity of our great 
State. 

"His nomination for the office of Vice-President 
brings not only honor and distinction to him, but to us 
as well, and as neighbors and friends we share in it 
with him. I am sure I speak for every member of this 
great assemblage when I say, as neighbors and friends 
we are each and all glad that the great honor which the 
distinguished Senator so richly deserves came to him 
without his seeking it, or even without his knowledge, 
and as neighbors and friends we rejoice with him." 

The signs of public interest throughout the country 
and of interest in his personality appear in this entry in 
the journal : 

July 12, Many letters and telegrams of congratulation on 
nomination for Vice-Presdt. Many callers and newspaper re- 
porters at Elkins. Publishing everything that occurs or has hap- 
pened. 

Meanwhile a new turn had been given the campaign 
probabilities in the closing hours of the Convention. 
When the news was received in the East that the Con- 
vention in its platform had omitted all mention of gold 
or silver, there was much dissatisfaction. Judge Parker 
acted of his own accord to correct the omission by send- 



174 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ing the following message to William F. Sheahan, one 
of the New York leaders : 

I regard the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably established, 
and shall act accordingly if the action of the Convention to-day 
shall be ratified by the people. As the platform is silent on the 
subject, my view should be made known to the convention, and 
if it proves to be unsatisfactory to the majority I request you to 
decline the nomination for me at once, so that another may be 
nominated before adjournment. 

Alton B. Parker. 

This telegram was presented to the Convention after 
the nomination of Mr. Davis for Vice-President at a 
night session. It stirred afresh the opposition of the 
Bryan supporters, and Mr. Bryan made an impassioned 
speech of denunciation. The Convention, after an 
angry debate, authorized the sending of the following 
telegram to Judge Parker : 

The platform adopted by this Convention is silent on the ques- 
tion of the monetary standard because it is not regarded by us as 
a possible issue in this campaign, and only campaign issues \vere 
mentioned in the platform. Therefore there is nothing in the 
views expressed by you in the telegram just received which 
would preclude anyone entertaining them from accepting a nom- 
ination on the said platform. 

Having directed this resolution to be sent to the candi- 
date for President, the Convention adjourned with Par- 
ker and Davis as the ticket. 

For a time there was a question regarding Mr. Bryan's 
intentions, which he finally answered by supporting the 
ticket in his own way and with his own interpretation of 
the issues of the campaign. 
J" The nomination of Mr. Davis seemed likely to raise a 
collateral issue. This was whether any political party 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 175 

was justified in nominating a man of his age for the 
Vice-Presidency, since there was always the possibility 
that the Vice-President might become President. Mr. 
Davis was then past fourscore. His eighty-first birth- 
day would be celebrated ten days after the election in 
November. Should he be elected, he would be well in his 
eighty-second year when he assumed office, and he would 
be expected to retain his physical and mental vigor until 
he was in his eighty-sixth year. 

The Republican newspapers took the matter good- 
humoredly, explaining that his age was of no conse- 
quence, since there was no possibility of the Democratic 
ticket being elected. A more serious view was taken by 
some of the Republican leaders. Elihu Root in a polit- 
ical speech, while making kindly reference to Mr. Davis, 
criticized the action of his party in nominating a candi- 
date of his age, and drew a somewhat gruesome picture 
of its possible consequences. 

Mr. Davis was unperturbed by the discussion of his 
age. He was so accustomed to looking forward and his 
mental make-up was such that he gave no more atten- 
tion to the chances of mortality for himself than he 
would have given to any man nominated at half his age. 
After a short period of rest he entered vigorously upon 
his campaig n. { In the middle of July he went to New 
York to attend a meeting of leading Democrats which 
Governor Hill had called. From there he proceeded to 
Esopus to see Judge Parker. His own account of the 
interview appears in his journal : 

July 21. I go up to Esopus, Judge Parker's home on the Hud- 
son. Spend several hours with the Judge; like him very well. 
Canvass starts off brightly. 



176 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

In accordance with the wishes of Mr. Davis, the 
formal notification of his nomination was made at White 
Sulphur Springs. His account follows: 

Aug. lo. At White Sulphur Springs Hon. John S. Williams 
of Mississippi, leader of House of Representatives, notified me 
officially of nomination for Vice-President. I replied. A great 
crowd at Springs and at notification. 

Mr. Williams in the course of his speech, after dis- 
cussing the public issues, turned to the personality of the 
candidate for Vice-President and, addressing Mr. Davis, 
said: 

"The people see in you one of the best products of the 
best period of American institutions, a period whose 
salient characteristics were local self-government, indi- 
viduality, equal opportunity, and freedom — freedom to 
work, freedom to buy and sell, freedom to compete in 
industrial life, resulting in self-dependence; freedom to 
develop as one's own master and not merely as the well 
trained and well managed industrial servant of another. 
They see in you what Oliver Wendell Holmes said is a 
rare thing, a self-made man who is yet not proud of his 
maker. . . . 

"In real conclusion, Mr. Davis, it is a sincere pleasure 
indeed to know and to be able to help place in high posi- 
tion a man of your character and sense and modesty; a 
man who, as the result of a life of continence, temper- 
ance, self-containment and usefulness and honest indus- 
try, presents a picture in virile though advanced age of 
mens sana in corpore sano which is a delight to the eye, 
a satisfaction to the soul, and was thought by wise an- 
cients to be the sumnium honum of individual earthly 
existence." 

In his speech of acceptance Mr. Davis touched on 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 177 

one point with a deep degree of sentiment. He said: 

"I find it a great pleasure, standing here upon the bor- 
derland of the two Virginias, to receive and accept any 
commission you bear, and to send greetings through you 
to the Democracy of the entire country. Is it not signifi- 
cant of a closer and truer brotherhood among us that, for 
the first time since the Civil War, a nominee on the na- 
tional ticket has been taken from that section of our com- 
mon country that lies south of Mason and Dixon's line — 
a happy recognition of the obliteration of all sectional 
dififerences which led to and followed that unhappy 
struggle ?" 

Continuing, he attacked the Republicans in the na- 
tional administration for extravagance, held them re- 
sponsible for unfavorable business conditions, recalled 
that they had favored the double standard, and spoke 
particularly of his own attitude on the rights of labor. 
He paid this tribute to Judge Parker : 

"He is a man of courage, yet prudent ; of high ideals, 
yet without pretense ; of the most wholesome respect for 
the Constitution and the majesty of the laws under it, and 
a sacred regard for their limitations; of the clearest 
sense of justice which would rebel against compounding 
a wrong to an individual or a nation ; positive in convic- 
tion, yet of few words ; strong in mental and moral attri- 
butes, and yet withal modest and reserved ; possessed of a 
sturdy constitution and magnificent manhood, and yet 
temperate in his actions and dignified in his demeanor." 

Referring to his party, he said that, while there had 
been dififerences in the preceding campaigns, yet at St. 
Louis they were all harmonized and a common ground 
was found upon which all could stand and do battle for 
Democratic principles. Concerning the platform he 
said: 



178 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

"I heartily indorse the platform upon which I have 
been nominated, and, with the Convention and its nom- 
inee for President, regard the present monetary standard 
of value as irrevocably established." 

A further exposition of his views was promised in his 
letter of acceptance, to be made public in September. In 
it Mr. Davis criticized the increasing cost of government 
under Republican administration. A paragraph was 
given to imperialism in which he noted its tendency to 
drift to absolutism and centralized power. The policy, 
he insisted, was always dangerous to liberty. Concern- 
ing the tariff he declared in favor of a wise, conserva- 
tive, and gradual change that would equalize burdens of 
taxation and make honest competition possible; but ex- 
pressed the opinion that in making such change due re- 
gard should be had for capital and labor involved in in- 
dustrial enterprise. He reiterated his conviction that 
local self-government could be maintained only by strict 
observance of the Federal Constitution. He discussed 
in some detail civil service and the race issue, and he re- 
newed his tribute to Judge Parker. Concerning arbi- 
tration he observed: 'The spirit of arbitration is kindred 
to the love of law and order." 

It is part of the political history of that campaign that 
it was not without friction, and that the managers had 
some trouble in holding the various party leaders to- 
gether. In September 'Mr. Davis went to New York to 
meet the members of the Democratic National Commit- 
tee and Judge Parker. In October a ratification meeting 
was held at Baltimore, over which Senator Gorman pre- 
sided. Mr. Davis made a speech, also Governor Hill, 
Senator Daniels, and his warm friend, former Governor 
William Pinckney Whyte. After that, the greater part 
of his time was given to meetings in West Virginia. He 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 179 

traveled on a special train and spoke constantly. His 
journal records making "eighty or ninety" speeches, 
which in itself showed what a vigorous campaigner he 
was at eighty-one. 

An incident of great interest in the campaign was the 
visit of William J. Bryan. Late in October Mr. Bryan 
entered the State at Parkersburg, and from there went 
to Huntington and Charleston. Mr. Davis met him at 
Parkersburg. Mr. Bryan in his speeches supported the 
ticket in his own way and interpreted the platform after 
his own manner, but he showed his appreciation of the 
loyal support Mr. Davis had given him when he was the 
candidate. 

As the campaign drew to an end very little doubt re- 
mained concerning the outcome. Mr. Davis had excel- 
lent opportunities of learning the Republican view from 
his son-in-law, Senator Elkins, who was active in the 
Republican national campaign. The recollection of the 
family is that during the canvass the Democratic candi- 
date for Vice-President and the Republican Senator, 
when they met at their homes in Elkins, discussed the 
weather, the crops, the continuous development of West 
Virginia, the railway enterprises in which they were in- 
terested, and kindred topics. There is even a legend 
that Senator Elkins, at several of the passing interviews, 
was carried away by the beauty of the mountain scenery 
surrounding them, and complimented Mr. Davis on his 
foresight and energy in turning this part of the wilder- 
ness into the dream city that it had become. 

Mr. Davis was very anxious to carry his own State, 
and in ordinary circumstances the large personal follow- 
ing he had among Republicans, and the deep esteem felt 
for him by men of all parties, might have influenced the 
voting. Had he been the candidate for Governor there 



i8o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

is little question that this esteem would have found ex- 
pression ; but his Republican friends looked upon the na- 
tional campaign as one of issues and not of men, and 
were not inclined to vote the national ticket of the oppo- 
sition party in order to show their esteem for the candi- 
date for Vice-President. 

There is no reason to assume that during the last few 
weeks of the campaign Mr. Davis deceived himself into 
believing that the Democratic national ticket would be 
successful. His philosophic view of the campaign is 
summed up in his journal in this manner : 

November 8, 1904. Election day. It is generally believed 
Roosevelt will be elected. I make a good vote in Elkins and 
Randolph County. 

At about ten o'clock we hear enough to know^ we lose and Re- 
publicans win. Victory for Roosevelt is great. 

The objection made during the campaign by his oppo- 
nents and the thought which lodged in the minds of many 
of his political supporters, that if elected he might not 
live throughout his term, or might become incapacitated 
for performing the duties of Vice-President, or Presi- 
dent should the chief executive die, is interesting to recall 
in the light of the activities of Mr. Davis from March, 
1905, to March, 1909. His business affairs havincf been 
neglected during the campaign, he applied himself assid- 
uously to them, and particularly to the favorite project 
of his later years, the Coal and Coke Railway. 

His journal records, during 1905, various conferences 
with railway officials of connecting lines to make traffic 
arrangements, a horseback trip over part of the route, 
and the actual opening: of the road for traffic. In the 
three years following there are similar entries regarding 
the progress of the road, inspections of timber and coal 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS i8i 

properties, and various details of financing the line, 
as well as particulars regarding other business enter- 
prises. 

Interest in his own business during this period did not 
preclude broader interests. The annual meeting of the 
West Virginia State Board of Trade rarely found him 
absent. When the State Bankers' Association met he 
was almost invariably present ; and at its annual meeting 
in 1907, at Elkins, he entertained his successful com- 
petitor for the Vice-Presidency, Charles W. Fairbanks, 
who delivered an address. During this period he gave 
his regular annual dinners to railway presidents, and 
supplemented them by dinners to the permanent Pan- 
American Railway Committee. 

Philanthropies and benefactions received the attention 
he had for many years given them. The Young Men's 
Christian Association and the Child's Shelter of Charles- 
ton, both of which were very dear to his heart, are fre- 
quently mentioned in his journal in connection with his 
visits and contributions to them. There are similar en- 
tries concerning the Davis and Elkins College at Elkins, 
with various details, and in particular the building of a 
house for the president of the college. Home-coming 
week at Baltimore, in 1907, was one of the passing inci- 
dents of the period, as were his benefactions to the Odd 
Fellows Lodge with which he had been affiliated. 

Political affairs, notwithstanding his absorption in 
business and philanthropies, still filled a large space in 
his activities. In 1906, and again in 1908, his party 
talked of him as the candidate for Governor, but this talk 
he discouraged. In February, 1907, he made an inci- 
dental visit to the Senate, when Vice-President Fair- 
banks, noting his presence, and also the presence of two 
other octogenarians. Senator Pettus of Alabama and 



i82 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

former Senator William Pinckney Whyte of Maryland, 
gracefully sent each a white rose. Mr. Whyte and 
Mr. Davis had been colleagues in the Senate thirty years 
earlier. Edward Everett Hale, the chaplain, was also 
an octogenarian, and was a great believer in the peace- 
making influence of the Pan-American Railway, of 
which Mr. Davis was the sponsor. 

As the Presidential year approached, Mr. Davis 
showed his usual interest in the candidates of both par- 
ties, and indicated his personal preference by a news- 
paper interview favoring Judge George Gray of Dela- 
ware as the Democratic candidate. In his journal entry 
on Washington's Birthday, 1908, he noted that it looked 
as if Bryan, Democrat, and Taft, Republican, would be 
the nominees for President. He did not seek election as 
a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, but 
in the campaign he supported Mr. Bryan actively and 
heartily. 

When inauguration day, 1909, came, the day that 
would have ended his term as Vice-President had he been 
elected, he was in the full possession of his powers and 
was giving very close attention to his railway and to his 
philanthropies. In 1910 he helped his party in its State 
campaign, and there was a move for his election as Sen- 
ator, after it became assured that the Democrats had a 
majority in the Legislature. The Washington Star, in 
an editorial article in November, commented on this pos- 
sibility, with special reference to Mr. Davis's position on 
the tariff: 

It would be an event of the highest national interest if at 
eighty-seven, and after a long rest from office, Henry Gassaway 
Davis should reappear in the Senate. Despatches from West Vir- 
ginia mention his name. Other names are mentioned, those of 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 183 

men of merit and ability, but that of Mr. Davis is the most prom- 
inent of all, and in the country generally will command much 
attention. 

This well preserved veteran has had a remarkable career. Be- 
ginning life in humble circumstances, he addressed himself first 
to business and then to politics, and achieved notable success in 
both fields. He made both money and reputation, and when he 
reached the Senate took rank there with the men known as 
workers. He was heard more frequently in committee than in 
open Senate, though not a silent man when the debates played 
around subjects that quickened his thought. 

Other newspapers also discussed the possibility of Mr. 
Davis becoming a candidate, and the entries in his jour- 
nal indicate conferences with some of his party friends 
on the subject. The talk was not displeasing to him, but 
there is no reason to suppose that he gave it serious con- 
sideration. 

At the Jackson Day banquet of his party in Washing- 
ton, on January 8, 191 2, Mr. Davis was one of the most 
notable figures. A thousand prominent members of the 
party from all parts of the country were present, includ- 
ing several candidates for the nomination for President, 
and a former candidate in the person of Judge Alton B. 
Parker. When Mr. Davis came in he was cheered for 
several minutes, and escorted to the toastmaster's table, 
where he made a brief acknowledgment. The following 
day he told one of his friends that the address that had 
mostly deeply impressed him was that of Governor 
Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey. 

Mr. Davis's interest in national politics this year was 
keen, and was exerted, as usual, toward conservatism. 
He attended the Democratic State Convention at Par- 
kersburg in June, and was elected a delegate-at-large to 
the National Convention. The State Convention in- 



i84 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 

structed for Speaker Champ Clark; but Mr. Davis told 
the Convention that his choice for President was Gov- 
ernor Harmon of Ohio. 

Developments in the Republican party are described 
briefly in these journal entries : 

June 19, 1912. Republicans are having a lively time in Chicago 
National Convention. Taft and Roosevelt are candidates, and 
are very hostile and bitter. 

June 20. Taft had majority of convention of about seventy, 
and was nominated. Roosevelt bolts, and becomes a candidate. 

Mr. Davis went to Baltimore in the latter part of June. 
It was the ninth National Convention of his party that he 
had attended. Forty-four years earlier he had made 
his first appearance as a delegate in the Convention that 
met at New York and nominated Seymour and Blair. 
Owing to the great heat, he did not remain at Baltimore 
until the end of the sessions. While not in full sympathy 
with some of the tendencies that were manifested, he 
gave his hearty support to Wilson and Marshall, and 
during the campaign cooperated with the Democratic 
National Committee. Though unable to make speeches, 
he prepared newspaper interviews in which he reiterated 
some of his favorite views about the prosperity of the 
country under Democratic rule and the extravagance of 
Republican administrations. In these interviews he 
quoted freely from Governor Wilson's speech of accept- 
ance, and approved the candidate's pronouncement in 
favor of an early and gradual revision of the tariff down- 
ward. 





-- ^-^^ j-^- 



.£jr/'^ 




CHAPTER XII 

BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AT FOURSCORE AND BEYOND 

A busy man's casual enumeration of his interests — Sale of the 
West Virginia Central Railway — Looking around for new fields 
to employ capital — Imprisoned resources in heart of the State — 
Mineral and timber reserves awaiting an outlet — Coal and Coke 
Railway projected by Mr. Davis — Route from Elkins to Charles- 
ton — Exploring trips at eighty — Progress of the line described — 
First train when the builder was eighty- four — Communities 
brought into life — Mr. Davis as active head of the railroad — 
Looking after the traffic and finances — Local development enter- 
prises — Other business responsibilities 

APPROACHING fourscore, Mr. Davis had 
found there was still work for him to do. The 
scope of his activities as he reached the allotted 
biblical age are indicated in an entry in his journal in 
April, 1901, apparently made casually, like so many other 
entries. This is it : 

My health is good, and I am quite a busy man. Am President 
West Va. Central & Pittsburgh Railway; Piedmont & Cumber- 
land Railway; Coal & Iron Railway; Davis Coal & Coke Com- 
pany; Empire Coal & Coke Company; Washington Coal & Coke 
Company; Mill Creek Coal & Coke Company; Marshall Coal & 
Coke Company; Valley Coal & Coke Company; Queen's Coal & 
Coke Company; Davis National Bank, Piedmont; Trust Com- 
pany of West Va. ; United States Delegate Conference American 
Republics, which meets Mexico City October 22, 1901 ; West Va. 
Tax Commision, appointed by Governor to revise tax laws. 

Circumstances contributed to give a fresh start to 
these business activities, and at fourscore and beyond to 

185 



i86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

make him an even busier man than he had recited in his 
journal. Twenty years of his management and develop- 
ment of the West Virginia Central Railway had made it 
a very valuable property, with greater possibilities in the 
future as part of one of the larger railway systems of the 
country. The representatives of a number of important 
lines had seen these possibilities, and had begun nego- 
tiations for its purchase. One of these lines was the 
Wabash, then under the control of the Goulds. They 
wanted a railroad into Pittsburgh from the region tapped 
by the West Virginia Central and they had purchased the 
Western Maryland with this object in view. This road 
then reached Hagerstown, and an extension to Cumber- 
land was projected. 

At Cumberland the West Virginia Central would 
make a natural prolongation. The negotiations for its 
purchase were begun in the autumn of 1901, before Mr. 
Davis left for Mexico as one of the delegates to the 
Pan-American Conference. They were continued with 
Senator Elkins and others of those who were largely in- 
terested, while Mr. Davis in Mexico City, by letter and 
telegraph, kept a guiding hand on the whole transaction. 
The outcome was that the West Virginia Central was 
sold by its owners on a basis of complete transfer. It 
was characteristic of Mr. Davis that, having been the 
head of the system and responsible for its management, 
he did not care to be further identified with it after he 
had parted with his interest beyond exerting a friendly 
personal influence toward the new management. 

The sale of the West Virginia Central Railway was 
consummated early in January, 1902, after Mr. Davis 
had returned from Mexico. In consequence he found 
himself in the possession of several million dollars cash 
capital. At fourscore he might have invested it in Gov- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 187 

ernment bonds or similar securities; but this would have 
meant idle capital, and the idea of idle capital was as re- 
pugnant to him as that of himself becoming an idle in- 
dividual. Moreover, his ambitions for West Virginia 
in the way of developing the country had not yet been 
satisfied. There was a large region in the very heart of 
the State, contiguous to the section he had already de- 
veloped, whose vast resources of coal and timber were 
imprisoned resources because no means of transporta- 
tion for them existed. 

This region stretched ofif toward Charleston, the cap- 
ital, on the Kanawha River. A railway line reaching the 
Kanawha there would open up these resources through 
the Baltimore and Ohio and the Western Maryland sys- 
tems on the north, and through the Chesapeake and Ohio 
and the Kanaw^ha and Michigan Railway on the south. 
It would be a real artery for West Virginia. Tidewater 
would be accessible, and also the Ohio Valley and the 
Great Lakes. 

The railroad would involve engineering difficulties 
greater than those encountered in the building of the 
West Virginia Central, because much tunneling would 
be required. This may have been one of the reasons why 
it appealed to Mr. Davis, since his whole career had been 
to undertake projects when impelled by obstacles. Rail- 
way building on the prairies would not have appealed to 
him. 

He had studied the region with his usual thoroughness. 
Away back in 1874, when the West Virginia Central was 
a concept rather than a project, his journal had recited 
the details of a trip to Tucker, Randolph, and Barbour 
counties to look at coal deposits "of which much has 
been said." Regarding one section of this region he 
further recorded: 



t88 the life and TIMES OF 

I find on Roaring Creek at or near Crawford Scott's and I. K. 
Scott's a vein of coal open in several places; the vein from top 
to bottom is about ii feet, about 2>4, feet top and bottom of coal, 
then a slate from one to two on this and about 6 feet of piece or 
good coal in center. I do not think it the vein of this region or 
Pittsburgh ; it looks more like the Myer's Mill or Connellsville & 
Uniontown veins. 

Upon the whole, I do not think as well of the Randolph or 
Roaring Creek coal deposit as I had been led to suppose. The 
Clarksburg vein I think is more over toward Buckhannon and 
Weston, say in Upshur County. 

Later inspection seems to have given him a more 
favorable idea of the coal prospects in this district, and 
when his determination to continue developing the re- 
gion had been reached, he began making extensive pur- 
chases. Quite simply in his journal in February, 1902, 
he records : 

I have bought from E. J. Berwind, New York, his Roaring 
Creek coal property and railway (twenty-two miles, $875,000). 

In the meantime he had formulated his plan, so that 
there was little delay in the organization of the Coal and 
Coke Railway Company. It was entirely Mr. Davis's 
individual enterprise, and remained so until the line had 
been actually completed, when some of his former asso- 
ciates joined with him. His first move was to gain 
possession of a link that already had been built. Pitts- 
burgh capitalists and mine-owners had constructed a 
railway known as the Charleston, Clendennin and Sutton 
from the Kanawha at Charleston to Sutton, a distance of 
sixty-four miles. It had the disadvantage, in railway 
terms, of ending nowhere, and its extension had not 
proved inviting enough to secure the cooperation of cap- 
italists. 

Mr. Davis acted in his usual direct manner. He 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 189 

fixed an upset price, and sent to Pittsburgh a confidential 
representative, who quickly closed the transaction with 
the owners. Then the construction of the intervening 
links of this line was begun. Henry G. Davis, railway 
builder, eighty years old, was at work again. He gave 
his personal attention, as usual, to every detail of the 
building of the railway, overseeing the letting of the 
contracts and also the way in which they were carried 
out. His own story of the construction is told with his 
usual simplicity, or rather is gathered from the occa- 
sional entries in his journal. In February, 1902, he 
recorded the purchase of coal lands in Randolph, Upshur, 
Braxton, and Gilmer counties. Two months later, not- 
ing further purchases, he said : "We have bought in all 
about one hundred thousand acres." 

In June he states : *T am pushing along Coal and Coke 
Railway. No one has an interest except myself." 
Later in the same month he records : 

On the nth Bower, Robb, Moore, and I left Elkins by way of 
Roaring Creek Junction; rode over line of Coal and Coke Rail- 
way now being constructed by myself, intended to go through our 
coal-fields to French Creek coal-field, west of Buchan River, five 
or six miles above the town of Buckhannon. We staid overnight 
at Ford's Half Way House; next day by way of Gray Run to 
Sago, a station on railway. We returned by way of Middle 
Fork of Valley River and Sand Run. 

In October of the same year he records : "We are push- 
ing along Coal and Coke road ; between 500 and 600 men 
at work grading and in first tunnel." 

There were numerous other trips over the route in 
the following months. Quite casually is recorded in 
some detail a horseback trip in May, 1903. Mr. Davis 
was then well along in his eightieth year. Other mem- 
bers of the party, very much younger, after they got 



190 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

back spoke of it as a hard trip, but there was no indica- 
tion of hardship in the account given by the eighty-year- 
old leader. It runs as follows : 

May 27, 1903. On Morning of i8th inst, John [son], Lee, 
Bowers, Robb, and myself left Elkins for Charleston, W. Va., 
over contemplated route Coal and Coke Railway from Elkins to 
Charleston. 

Went by rail to tunnel No. i at Kings, from there by 
way Grassy Run to Sago ; staid overnight. 

From tunnel No. i and Sago on horses by way of French Creek 
and Ball Run to Bumsville, stop overnight, then by Little Hand 
4 miles to Copen Run, up that Run to Peshens Run, stop for 
dinner at Mr. Peshens, then over 24 tunnel to waters of 
Otter Creek and Elk River. Staid at Mr. Bogg's at Frametown 
overnight. Next morning we started on horseback about 6.30. 
From Frametown to Big Otter, end at present of our Charles- 
ton & Sutton Road, then to Charleston by rail (64 miles). 
Staid Charleston Thursday evening to Saturday morning and 
started back home. 

Sutton Sunday for dinner, then over Nole's Creek Route to 
Bumsville, engineer Chatman accompanied us going and com- 
ing. Between Frenchton and Elk River distance about 56 miles. 
We reach Elkins noon on Tuesday 26th. 

I was in 3 coal openings each about 7 feet, i with two postings 
amounting to say 10 in., one opening on Gray Run, one on 
Copen Run, one Elk River (O'Brien's). Was fairly well pleased 
with route. Think average cost of road between Elkins and 
Charleston (175 miles) will be about $25,000 per mile. Mouth 
Copen Run also Jacob . . . bell good ground for siding stations. 

There were numerous other trips, sometimes on con- 
struction trains, sometimes on horseback, and sometimes 
over difficult sections on foot. The eighty-year-old pe- 
destrian was as hardy as the eighty-year-old horseman, 
and his younger companions always marveled that he 
did not seem to share their fatigue. The grading and 
the tunneling were the subject of frequent observations 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 191 

on his part, but there were also notes regardmg sidings, 
the best points for station yards and towns, and provi- 
sions for operation and traffic. Further land purchases 
also were recorded. There were likewise interviews 
with officials of connecting lines. 

A visit to Elkins by George J. Gould and Mr. Joseph 
Ramsey, the president of the Wabash, is recorded, in 
which the relations of the new road are discussed. The 
interview was thus told : 

I talked to Messrs. Gould and Ramsey about our new road 
under construction from Charleston here. They talked fair and 
liberal. Upon the whole the interview was agreeable to each 
of us. 

In November of the same year the rapid progress that 
the road was making is stated in a brief entry: 

Last week General Manager Bower and I took cars to Tunnel 
No. 2 as far as Coal and Coke was completed ; then horseback to 
Sago, Tunnel Mill beyond the Buckhannon River, returned same 
day. Found construction going on fairly well. Hope to get road 
completed to Buckhannon River by January, 1904. 

One of the final stages in the construction of the line is 
indicated in the journal entry of June 15, 1905 : 

Returned last night from a horseback trip over Coal and Coke 
Railway as far as Gassaway. We expect to get road through 
by November. We are urging the contractor to push the grad- 
ing. The town of Gassaway is improving fast. We are putting 
in foundation for engine house, and will soon start shops. 

The main line was completed in December, 1905, and 
the first train was run through from Elkins to Charles- 
ton in January, 1906. A local newspaper gave this brief 
account of the consummation of the Railway Builder's 
latest project: 



192 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Saturday last in the small hamlet of Walkersville, Lewis County, 
the last spike was driven fastening the rails of the northern and 
southern ends of one of the most stupendous enterprises in the 
way of railroad construction ever undertaken in this State. 
Three years ago Senator Davis laid the plans for the building 
of a line of railway between the cities of Elkins and Charleston 
to develop and carry to market the coal from the vast holdings 
in the counties of Randolph, Upshur, Lewis, Braxton, and Gil- 
mer. This enterprise does not stop with the aim that may be 
construed, but brings into close business relation counties of the 
interior and opens an avenue of commerce that will do more for 
the undeveloped portions of the State than any line heretofore 
constructed. 

Under the generalship of W. H. Bower, general manager, 
work has been in prbgress almost night and day without inter- 
ruption on the 175 miles. While it is true by the purchase of 
the Charleston, Glendennin & Sutton Railway, 63 miles of road 
is used, it was necessary to reconstruct it by relaying of heavier 
rails and filling of trestles, all of which work was done without 
interruption to the large traffic. On the 100 miles of new road 
it was necessary to pierce the mountain twelve times, making a 
total distance of four miles underground. Thirty steel bridges 
were built, crossing the many streams. Cuts and fills along the 
mountains reach a height of 100 feet. The roadbed is being cov- 
ered with crushed limestone sixteen inches deep. This gives but 
a rough idea with what thoroughness the construction has under- 
gone. 

The Coal and Coke Railway in reaching the Kanawha 
crossed five rivers — Tygart's Valley, Middle Fork, Buck- 
hannon, Little Kanawha, and Elk. This, taken with the 
tunnels, afforded some idea of the engineering difficulties. 
But these streams also offered the prospect of developing 
great timber tracts as well as coal-mines. The line also 
traversed some oil lands, so that there was the normal 
basis for industrial development. 

Communities sprang up along the line just as they had 
come to life along the line of the West Virginia Central. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 193 

About midway of the route, where the road crossed Elk 
River, the new town of Gassaway was established. Here 
the company's shops were located and it became the prin- 
cipal divisional headquarters of the railway. Other 
towns sprang up through the development of the natural 
resources, particularly timber and coal, in the surround- 
ing regions. 

Mr. Davis was in his eighty-fourth year when the rail- 
way was opened for traffic through from Elkins to 
Charleston. Before that, in order to reach the State 
capital from the northern counties, a roundabout journey 
had been necessary, requiring two or three days over 
different railway systems. Thenceforth it was possible 
to make the through trip in a single day. He had cov- 
ered every section of the road with the engineering par- 
ties. He had watched the construction of every mile of 
it. But, far more than this, he had traversed the sur- 
rounding regions on foot or on horseback, so that he 
knew what their resources were. 

The Railway Builder who went to work again at four- 
score might have considered his labors ended at eighty- 
four; but he continued to give the enterprise his close 
personal attention, directing the details of its manage- 
ment, making inspection trips, stopping at all stations, 
as an entry in his journal recorded. In 1907 some of the 
responsibilities of financial management were lifted from 
him by Senator Elkins and his brother, Thomas B. Davis, 
but he continued his general supervision of the line. In 
May, 1908, he jotted down in his journal: "I have been 
for two or three months looking closely to the manage- 
ment of Coal and Coke Railway, and have reduced ex- 
penses $5,000 per month, $60,000 per year." 

There was a period of several years in which the coal 
and coke trade of the whole region was dull, and he 



194 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

notes these periods quite methodically, reciting also 
sometimes that the gross earnings were small, although 
usually entries of this kind are supplemented with the 
statement that the net earnings are improving. During 
this period he made several trips to Baltimore and Phila- 
delphia to confer with the managers of other railways 
regarding new lines or extensions that would interweave 
the different systems and increase the traffic of all of 
them. He was very insistent on the other lines giving 
his road fair treatment in the matter of the traffic that 
it turned over to them. 

In the meantime his horseback excursions were con- 
tinued. In June, 1910, he notes in his journal a horse- 
back ride to West Elkins, when the river was unusually 
high and backwater "say three feet," which apparently 
did not interfere with his continuing his exercise. Dif- 
ficulties with employees over wages sometimes arose, but 
they usually were settled by conciliation. On one or two 
occasions he took the trainmen into his confidence, and 
told them how he had put his money into the railway 
and how he had carried it through dull times, when the 
earnings were lean, because he was unwilling to reduce 
their wages. The discovery of oil at one point is noted 
in April, 1912, by the brief statement, "Quite an oil-field 
recently come at Blue Creek on our road." 

Responsibility for the active management of the rail- 
way was relinquished by Mr. Davis late in 1912. He 
records it briefly : 

On November 23, at a meeting of directors held at our Wash- 
ington office, we elected Hon. R. C. Kerens first vice-president 
Coal and Coke Railway. Our railway and coal company doing 
fairly well. Coal and coke each in good demand at increased 
price. Car supply short. I was eighty-nine November 16; 
health good for age. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 195 

In the following year there were several entries in his 
journal showing that the railroad was doing "fairly 
well" and that coal and coke were in good demand at 
advanced prices. In 1914 the state of the coal and coke 
business and of the railway traffic was indicated usually 
as good, although in some months the trade was dull and 
the road was doing ''only tolerably." The following 
year the entries were similar with dull business, followed 
later by improving business; and a month before his 
death, that is, in February, 191 6, an entry was made re- 
citing that the railway and coal mines were doing fairly 
well. Thus he never lost his interest in the enterprise 
that he had created. 

The larger activities involved in building the Coal and 
Coke Railway included minor ones incidental to it. 
There were local development enterprises to be organ- 
ized, coal and timber properties to be refinanced. Much 
travel was involved in this work. There were numerous 
trips to New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, as well 
as over the route of the railway line. Mr. Davis's travel 
was as incessant at this period as it had been a quarter 
of a century earlier when he was building the West Vir- 
ginia Central Railway. 

Besides the railway and collateral enterprises there 
were other investments of a personal character to be 
looked after and fiduciary obligations to be discharged. 
There were the responsibilities of the banker to be ful- 
filled by giving that close personal attention which in- 
sured that conservatism in handling the money of other 
people was observed. In all these activities the rail- 
way builder and the man of business showed that the 
qualities that had been preeminent in middle age were 
not lacking at fourscore and beyond. 



CHAPTER XIII 

WEST VIRGINIA 

Commemorating the half century of a war-bom State — Recog- 
nition of Henry G. Davis's part in upbuilding the commonwealth 
— His early exposition of its resources — President of Board of 
Trade — Tributes to him as a pioneer in development — Head of 
Bankers' Association — Service on Tax Commission — Memories 
of epochal events — Speech on anniversary of first Battle of 
Philippi — Semi-Centennial celebration at Wheeling — Mr. Davis's 
modest account of his own work — Golden Jubilee Honors for the 
Grand Old Man — His review of the moral and material progress 
of West Virginia — Promises of the future — Poetic interpretation 
of achievement and aspiration. 

THE Semi-Centennial of West Virginia's State- 
hood was celebrated at Wheeling in June, 191 3. 
It commemorated fifty years' growth of a State 
born in the stress of civil war and cradled in blood and 
battle. Few of those who had molded the young com- 
monwealth, carried it through the earlier period of civic 
development and social and institutional progress, awak- 
ened its sleeping resources and guided their transforma- 
tion into a brilliant chapter of material prosperity, sur- 
vived. Among the few was Henry G. Davis. 

In whatever related to the evolution of the State, 
civic, social, and industrial, he had borne a strong man's 
part. After the lapse of half a century he was still a 
vigorous exponent of all that was best in the common- 
wealth, and was addressing himself to its welfare with 

undiminished activity. It was, therefore, both fitting 

196 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 197 

and natural that when the Semi-Centennial Commission 
was appointed by Governor Glasscock, Mr. Davis should 
be selected as chairman. He was the incarnation of 
West Virginia, of her early hopes and aspirations and 
of their realization. 

His appointment met with universal approval. It 
also served to recall the part he had had in building the 
commonwealth. Much of this is given in the chapters 
relating to his railway and other enterprises and to his 
public life. Some of these events may again be briefly 
reviewed, with a word about the activities that extended 
beyond the semi-centennial celebration even to the day 
of his death. As early as 1868 he had served, by ap- 
pointment of Governor Stevenson, as a delegate to the 
National Commercial Convention that met at Louisville. 

During his two terms in the United States Senate his 
labors in behalf of West Virginia were unceasing. He 
secured the first appropriation for river and harbor im- 
provements by means of the James River and Kanawha 
Canal, and he obtained recognition of the justness of 
these improvements which resulted in subsequent meas- 
ures. 

The resources of the State, both agricultural and min- 
eral, were the study of his lifetime and formed one of 
his favorite themes. He never neglected the opportunity 
to make them known. In his best known address on 
agriculture in the United States Senate, as far back as 
1879, he had wandered from the general subject to give 
special information about the resources of West Vir- 
ginia, her soil, her timber, coal, and petroleum. It was 
especially the mineral resources that he described, and 
speaking on this subject he said: 

'They are largely undeveloped as yet, the greater part 
of them lying dormant ; but when the treasures of this 



198 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

mountain State are unearthed, as they must be in time, 
they will astonish the world. In minerals such as coal, 
iron, and salt, West Virginia stands unrivaled with the 
one exception of Pennsylvania. In the production of 
oil, which has become one of our largest industries and 
one of our most productive sources of national revenue, 
West Virginia and Pennsylvania are entitled to all the 
credit. The coal-fields of West Virginia are beyond 
question the most remarkable in the world. The timber 
of our State is probably as good in quality and large in 
amount as that of any State in the Union." 

Talks of this kind helped to awaken the people of the 
State to the natural wealth of which they were the heirs ; 
it also drew the attention of capitalists and encouraged 
the development of the resources by the construction of 
railway lines and the opening of the coal-mines. It was 
through the efforts of Senator Davis that the first ap- 
propriation for a geological survey of West Virginia 
was obtained, and this survey more than justified all 
that he had said about the mineral wealth. 

When West Virginia began to take systematic meas- 
ures to attract immigration and capital, Mr. Davis was 
foremost in the movement. He was not afraid of being 
called a boomer. In February, 1888, he was a member 
of the convention that met at Wheeling to adopt meas- 
ures for advancing the interests of the State. A few 
weeks earlier he had written a letter outlining the steps 
that should be taken to insure developing the still latent 
resources. When the convention met he made a speech 
on the same subject, and, as chairman of the Committee 
on Immigration and Development, he submitted a re- 
port, which was adopted, providing for the organization 
of the West Virginia Immigration and Development 
Association. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 199 

Years afterward the efforts to give organized expres- 
sion to the business interests of the State resulted in the 
formation of the State Board of Trade. He was one 
of the active men in its formation in 1905, and there- 
after he rarely failed to be present at the annual meet- 
ing. In 1906 he was elected president of the Board. 
He was then eighty-three years old. In February, 1907, 
at a meeting of the Board at Wheeling, Mr. Davis re- 
ceived many proofs of the esteem in which he was held 
as a commonwealth builder. Commenting on his pres- 
ence, the Wheeling Intelligencer said : 

Wheeling is always glad to extend a cordial welcome to Hon. 
Henry G. Davis, and in this particular Wheeling is not different 
from any other West Virginia town. 

Henry G. Davis was a pioneer in the development of West 
Virginia. Over fifty years ago he began to show his faith in 
the future of West Virginia, and year after year he has given 
the strength of an acute mind and vigorous body to the upbuild- 
ing of the State. He has won wealth, fame, and honor. His 
gray hairs have been richly crowned with the laurels of honorable 
achievement; but, though his years have passed the limits of 
active life allotted to most men, he is still planning, still thinking, 
and still doing those things which in a broad sense make for the 
betterment of mankind. 

The Wheeling Register in its tribute said : 

Hale and hearty, vigorous in mind and limb, despite his more 
than fourscore years, Henry G. Davis was himself even more 
interesting than the admirable address which he delivered at the 
annual banquet of the Board of Trade. The speech he delivered 
showed a grasp of current affairs not less noteworthy than his 
familiarity with the early history of this city and State. 

When the State Board met at Huntington, in October, 
1909, Mr. Davis delivered one of the principal addresses, 
and in it he reviewed at length the resources of the com- 



200 THE LIFE AND TIMES OE 

monwealth and the measures taken for its development, 
with especial reference to the importance of railways as 
the means of such development. Speaking of the evolu- 
tion into industrial communities, he said : 

When the State began its career there were but few towns of 
any size, nearly the entire population being engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. There are now about one hundred and fifty incor- 
porated villages, towns, and cities, with a score or more containing 
over five thousand people. The new ones are to be found along 
the railroads and principally where the mining industries have 
flourished. Not until there is utilized within its borders the 
valuable essentials it contains for manufacturing life will there 
grow up marts of trade and centers of activity such as have made 
the neighboring State of Pennsylvania great and powerful. We 
have spent nearly fifty years in demonstrating to the world that 
we possess nearly all the requisites of commercial greatness. 
Now let us begin the next half century with a determination to 
use the material we have to build our own house instead of our 
neighbor's across the way. 

As a lifelong banker, Mr. Davis took great interest in 
every movement that brought the bankers of the State 
together. He rarely failed to attend the annual meet- 
ing of the State Bankers' Association, and usually made 
one of his short, pointed speeches filled with statistics, 
but statistics that were pertinent and illuminating. He 
served as president of the State Bankers' Association one 
year. The annual convention in the summer of 1913 
was held at Elkins, and was attended by prominent finan- 
ciers from beyond the State. One of these was United 
States Treasurer Burke, and another former Governor 
Edwin Warfield of Baltimore. Mr. Davis was then in 
his ninetieth year, but in his address he showed his in- 
terest in finance as clear as at any time during his active 
business life. 

A typewritten outline of his address to the bankers is 




o 



Q 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 201 

prefaced with this comment in his own handwriting: 
"My remarks brief; a talk, not a speech." The talk ran 
through an historic review of banks, from the Venice 
Bank in 1171 to the organization of the first United 
States Bank, and then to the banks in the United States, 
their resources, their capital, and their circulation. 
From this general review it was a natural transition to 
the growth of West Virginia banks and their functions 
in developing the State. 

Identification with the economic and the public life of 
West Virginia and the large part he bore in the indus- 
trial development naturally caused Mr. Davis to take 
a live interest in the fiscal affairs of the State. Because 
of his knowledge of these subjects and of his sound judg- 
ment in whatever related to them, he was looked to when 
the Legislature, in 1901, passed an act creating a Com- 
mission of five members to consider the subject of taxa- 
tion, as one of the best fitted of all the citizens of the 
State to serve on the Commission. Governor A. B. 
White recognized this, and in a letter to Mr. Davis said : 

I respectfully write to know whether you would consent to serve 
the State in this capacity and give the Commission the benefit of 
your valuable experience and thought on these matters. It 
would be very highly appreciated if you would, and I am sincerely 
desirous that you serve on this Commission. . . . The purpose is 
to consider the whole subject of taxation with reference to secur- 
ing some reform legislation on these matters. I trust you can see 
your way clear to give the State the benefit of your services for 
which your long business experience has so eminently fitted you. 

Mr. Davis accepted the appointment thus proffered 
him, and he also appreciated the compliment conveyed, 
since the State administration was Republican. The 
Commission as ultimately organized consisted of former 
Governor W. P. Hubbard of Wheeling, Henry G. Davis 



202 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of Elkins, L. J. Williams of Lewisburg, John H. Holt 
of Huntington, and John K. Thompson of Raymond 
City. Mr. Holt had been the Democratic opponent of 
Governor White in the State campaign. 

The Commission, after carefully considering the de- 
fects in the system of taxation, determined to devise a 
plan by which the expenses of the State government 
would be paid by taxes upon corporations, charters, 
licenses, capitation, etc., leaving the taxes collected from 
real and personal property to pay the county and munici- 
pal expenses. To Mr. Davis was assigned the subject 
of the State revenues and the manner in which they 
should be collected and disbursed. While serving on this 
body he also attended, as one of the delegates of West 
Virginia, the National Conference on Taxation, which 
met at Buffalo. He gave much of his time to the work 
of the Commission, and helped to formulate the prelim- 
inary report, which was submitted in December, 1901. 
The final report was submitted in October, 1902, and 
was signed by Mr. Davis along with the other members. 
Many of its suggestions and recommendations bore the 
stamp of his personality. 

Many chapters might be written of Mr. Davis's part 
in the fiscal history of the State, but they would be 
merely the cumulative recital of a deep knowledge of 
the economic resources and of the relation of taxation 
to their development and to the application to the ad- 
ministrative affairs of the State. 

The subject of West Virginia recurs to the Semi-Cen- 
tennial celebration and the part of Mr. Davis in it. 

Before the actual semi-centennial celebration there 
had been a half-century observance of the first battle 
that was fought within the borders of the new common- 
wealth. This anniversary was celebrated at Philippi 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 203 

in June, 191 1. Speaking on that occasion, Mr. Davis re- 
called the thrilling days of half a century past, and the 
principles for which men then fought. He also reviewed 
the creation of the new State. On this point he said: 

"Many good people thought the act of creating West 
Virginia out of a part of Virginia was harsh and illegal. 
Previous to the war there was a feeling of discontent 
among the people of what is now West Virginia. They 
felt that they were not being treated fairly in legislation, 
and were compelled to pay heavy taxes on account of 
internal and other improvements in what is now Vir- 
ginia, while but a small part of the money so raised was 
expended in the part which is now West Virginia. As 
it was also opposed to secession, bordering largely on the 
free States of Pennsylvania and Ohio, it was ready for 
the separation which came. There seems to be some- 
thing not altogether inappropriate or illogical in the fact 
that the first battle of the Rebellion occurred in the only 
State that was created by that conflict. 

"Virginia is the only State that lost part of its terri- 
tory in the Civil War. In the days of the Revolution 
it did more for our independence and liberty than any 
other State in the Union. It gave the country Washing- 
ton, JefTerson, Madison, Henry, Marshall, and other 
great men. The State of West Virginia honors the old 
State, and will always look upon her with the pride and 
affection of a devoted daughter, 

"A half century has elapsed since these beautiful hills 
and valleys were occupied by hostile forces. Long since 
have the sounds of cannon ceased and the wounds of 
conflict healed. Soon, in the progress of time, as the 
participants in these scenes pass away, the dark days of 
1 861 will become hallowed in memory, and their story 
softened by romance and legend. It is sufficient for 



204 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

those of us who can remember them to know that the 
mellowing effects of time have already obliterated all 
animosity and that on all sides peace and good will pre- 
vail." 

Mr. Davis's part in preparing for the Semi-Centen- 
nial celebration, and his active participation in it, are 
related in his journal with a brevity that gives no hint of 
the degree to which it embodied honors to him as the 
first citizen of the State — the Grand Old Man, as the 
orators and the newspapers insisted on calling him. 
These are the entries in the joviriial : 

November 4, 191 1. The West Virginia Semi-Centennial Com- 
mission appointed by Governor Glasscock met at Waldo Hotel, 
Clarksburg. Eleven of the fourteen commissioners attended. 
Governor Glasscock presided. Wheeling and Charleston ask 
for the celebration to be at their town ; Wheeling selected by a vote 
of eight to two. 

I presented a program of the intended celebration which, with 
a few amendments, was adopted. I was unanimously elected per- 
manent chairman of the Commission, Secretary of State Reed 
vice-chairman, with the full understanding Reed was to do nearly 
all the work that naturally devolved on chairman. 

May 29, 1913. Returned last evening from Wheeling, attend- 
ing Semi-Centennial Commission meeting. I am chairman, which 
is giving me considerable work. 

June 20. Went to Wheeling i8th to attend Semi-Centennial. 
Great crowd expected 20th, Statewide Day. Parade, State, na- 
tional troops, cadets from State University, arch on streets, great 
display of flags. I presided at the great meeting and made half 
hour speech. 

This account is the essence of modesty. The historian 
of the future would have to seek other sources to obtain 
a correct idea of what the celebration meant as a tribute 
to Henry G. Davis. They are found in the newspapers, 
in the official publications, and in the contemporary story 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 205 

of the Semi-Centennial as given in permanent form in 
the volumes published at the time. A program of the 
ceremonies was published in which the title page was an 
appreciation of Mr. Davis, as seen below: 

THE GOLDEN JUBILEE OF WEST VIRGINIA 
1863-1913 
To THE Hon. Henry G. Davis of Elkins 
West Virginia's "Grand Old Man" 
A prime factor in the development and progress of the State and the up- 
lift of its people, these pages are respectfully 
and appreciatively inscribed. 

The newspapers in their special issues were full of 
appreciative tributes. In one of them by Roy B. Naylor, 
Secretary of the West Virginia Board of Trade, was 
this eulogy: 

He came to what was then western Virginia as a young man 
with no capital save a clean heart, a clear brain, and a strong right 
arm. . . . To-day, in his ninetieth year, his face set towards the 
future with the enthusiasm of a man of thirty, well has he earned 
the title that fits him best, West Virginia's Grand Old Man, and 
justly is he regarded as one of the remarkable men of our times. 
In him we have the ideal citizen, vitally interested in all the activ- 
ities of his State, a creator of wealth, a doer of good deeds, a 
Christian gentleman. With all the success that has come to him 
in every walk of life, he remains, as always, kindly, courteous, 
and unspoiled, with the mind of a master builder and the heart of 
a liUle child. 

Another tribute, in verse, by Ignatius Brennan gave 
prominence to this thought: 

He looms as a connecting-link of time — 

A link that starts when our domain was young, 

Then stretches 'cross the cycle, so sublime. 
And joins all with a clime of every tongue. 



2o6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Before the locomotive raced the rail ; 
Before the harnessed-lightning pierced the vale; 
Before a thousand things of wondrous make — 
He lived, and gave his being for their sake. 

In the several addresses made during the celebration 
there were summaries of the moral, the material, and the 
civic progress of West Virginia in its fifty years of 
Statehood. The chief address on Statewide Day, June 
20, was made by Mr. Davis himself, and in this speech he 
described both the moral and the material progress of 
the commonwealth. Among other things Mr. Davis 
said: 

"The men whose faith and strength of purpose car- 
ried them forward to the formation of the State in times 
of great doubt and foreboding are those to whom we 
now pay honor. We come not so much to recount our 
achievements and to enjoy the sense of satisfaction they 
impart as to do deference to those who made possible 
the occasion of our pride. They builded better than they 
knew by bringing into being a State which, unlike them- 
selves, lives on, and gathers strength as the years mul- 
tiply, and yet while they live has grown greater than 
they anticipated, richer than they prophesied, stronger 
than they imagined, and more than fulfilled their bright- 
est hopes. 

"The physical features and natural riches of West 
Virginia have always been attractive and elusive. , . . 
The peaks and pinnacles and terraced mountainsides di- 
vide and distribute her waters with impartial favor. 
They give birth to the Potomac, which broadens into 
service for the capital of the nation, and mingle in the 
Chesapeake with those which have gone down through 
the historic James; to the north by the Cheat and Mo- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 207 

nongahela they reach at Pittsburgh the Ohio, and soon 
join with the waters from the southwest of the Little 
Kanawha. Nature has furnished the lines of a great 
portion of the boundaries of the State in mountains 
and streams, the Ohio River alone serving her well for 
nearly three hundred miles along her border. The peo- 
ple of the State have inherited from its rugged nature a 
spirit of freedom and self-reliance. They have cared 
rather for the independence of its hills and valleys than 
the interdependence of cities and towns. 

'Tn i860, about the time of the formation of the State, 
the population was 376,000, or about fifteen persons to 
each square mile. In 1870 it had grown to 420,000, and 
in 1 910 it reached 1,221,000, or an average of fifty per- 
sons to each square mile. It had a little more than 
three times the population of fifty years ago." 

After reviewing the agricultural and mineral wealth 
of the State and the manufactures, Mr. Davis closed his 
half-hour speech with this sentiment : 

"Statistics of great variety could be produced to show 
the health and prosperity of West Virginia, her present 
high position, her rapid advance in all the material and 
moral afifairs of life, the happiness and ambitions of her 
people ; but facts are for moments of greater care. To- 
day we- put aside the sterner realities of life and lend 
our thoughts and feelings to the spirit of the occasion. 
We join with our neighbors and friends in making 
merry, that we can with light hearts and cheerful mien 
fittingly observe the day we celebrate. The State was 
born in sentiment, and in sentiment let us remember 
its birth. In our felicitations on West Virginia's fiftieth 
birthday, an occasion fraught with pride in the accom- 
plishments of the past, let us take advantage of the 



20g THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

golden opportunity and inaugurate to higher hopes and 
greater aims the second half century of the State's his- 
tory." 

At night there was a banquet, which, notwithstanding 
the fatigues of the day, Mr. Davis attended. He made 
a brief speech expressing appreciation for the coopera- 
tion of Wheeling in the preparation and management of 
the celebration. No one who listened to him on that 
occasion could realize that he was in his ninetieth year. 
He had all the energy and interest in his surroundings 
of a m.an of fifty. 

Among all the tributes to West Virginia and to the 
men who had builded the new commonwealth, morally 
and materially, who had molded its civic development 
and laid the foundation for its educational institutions, 
none reflected more truly the part which Henry G. Davis 
had taken than that by Herbert Putnam in his poem, 
"West Virginia," which was one of the features of the 
celebration. These verses of Mr. Putnam's in particular 
reflect the achievements and the aspirations of Mr. 
Davis : 

To-day we celebrate 
The ripe achievements of our fifty years: — 

The mastery 
Of forest, field, and mine, the mill which rears 
Its bulk o'er many a stream, the forge and factory's 

Incessant hum, 
The railways linking mart to mart and home to home, 
The growth of trade in each emporium, 
And other wealth material that has come 

To bless 
Our subjugation of a wilderness, 
And mien undaunted in a time of stress : — 

All these we proudly sum. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 209 

The pride is just ; but let it not ignore 

Our progress in the things that count for more 

In strengthening a State 

Than wealth material won. 

Let it relate what we have done 
To further Education, and promote 
An understanding near of things remote. 

What may we claim 
Of those fine civic traits which earn the name 

Of a great commonwealth, 
And are the tokens of sound civic health? 
Respect for law, to each his equal chance, 

For variant opinion, tolerance; 

Yet in the issues real 

That touch the common weal 
Conscience implacable, that alike defies 
The bribe, the threat, or coward compromise. 

The more than fourscore years and ten of Mr. Davis's 
life prevented one tribute which West Virginia undoubt- 
edly would have delighted to pay him as one of her fore- 
most sons. This was a place in the Hall of Statuary in 
the Capitol at Washington. During his lifetime the two 
niches that are reserved for each State were filled by the 
statues of other citizens. It therefore remains for the 
State he loved so well to find some other means of show- 
ing her appreciation, perhaps by a statue at the Capitol 
in Charleston. 



CHAPTER XIV 

BENEFACTIONS AND PHILANTHROPIES 

The habit of giving — Interest in free schools — Sentiment in- 
spired by higher education — Permanent endowment for Davis 
and Elkins College — Contributions to religious objects — A home 
missionary's illuminating letter — Filial sentiment given expres- 
sion in church edifice — Family affection exemplified in a Memo- 
rial hospital — Failure of plans for girls' industrial school — Reali- 
zation of similar idea in Child's Shelter — Mr. Davis's deep per- 
sonal interest in the homeless little ones — Belief in organized 
Christianity — Substantial support of Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation — Eulogy of its methods. 

THE pages that form this record might be called a 
chapter in practical philanthropy. 
The habit of giving was with Mr. Davis a 
lifelong one, and the gifts in the earlier years were not 
always out of abundance. It was his practice to devote 
some part of his income to worthy purposes, religious, 
educational, and philanthropic. As his means increased 
he was able to make more ample provision, but it was 
never done indiscriminately. Professional charity- 
seekers found that when his aid was sought they must 
be able to show a reason for it, and also they must be 
able to make a satisfactory accounting. The careful 
business habits that found application in his private af- 
fairs were applied to benevolent purposes, and demoral- 
izing and pauperizing effects of indiscriminate giving 
received no encouragement from him. 

As his fortune grew he was able to make permanent 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 211 

provision for several objects that appealed most deeply 
to him and awakened sentiments that rarely found ex- 
pression in words. He did not believe in waiting until 
after death for his purposes to be realized, but rather 
preferred to lay the foundation himself and to contribute 
toward the current obligations, while at the same time 
making provision through endowment for carrying on 
the objects that had enlisted his sympathy. The prin- 
cipal ones were found recorded in his will, which pro- 
vided endowments for them. 

No subject appealed to Mr. Davis with greater force 
than that of education. The circumstances that had de- 
nied him the opportunities for schooling left a deep im- 
press on him, and, in the numerous appeals that came to 
him for aid, a school in some remote section where the 
State agencies were difficult to be invoked seldom failed 
to obtain a response. Among his papers a letter here 
and there, from some out-of-the-way corner conveying 
thanks for aid extended is the only record of some of his 
quiet benefactions. Here, for example, is one received 
from a hamlet in West Virginia a few months before his 
death, in which the writer says : 

I received your check and letter last evening-. Words fail to 
express my appreciation of the contribution you have made, but 
I say thank you with all my heart. Only God can reward such 
liberality to our country schools. 

The sentiment that drew him to the communities in 
which he had lived found expression in an entry in his 
journal relating to Piedmont : 

January 8, 1886. I have bought ground on which old Presby- 
terian Church stood. My intention is to build a free school build- 
ing, to cost about $10,000, to be given to Piedmont as a high 
school ; hope to commence the building this year. 



212 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Five years later a brief entry refers to a newspaper 
clipping in which is recited the set of resolutions adopted 
by the Board of Education of Piedmont accepting the 
deed of the school property and expressing the thanks 
of the Board and the citizens of Piedmont for the gift. 
This was the Davis free school. 

When he was building railways and opening to settle- 
ment towns and villages, these grew faster than provision 
could be made under the school laws, and consequently 
he met the need of schooling in his usual practical way. 
At Henry, a mining town on the West Virginia Central 
Railroad, he built and gave to the people a brick school- 
house, and at Davis he provided the larger part of the 
expense for a school building. When he was construct- 
ing the Coal and Coke Railway, and the new town of 
Gassaway sprang up, one of his first activities was to 
provide a schoolhouse. These cases illustrate in a quiet 
way his belief in the common schools, and his desire that 
the children of the people in the communities that de- 
veloped from his mining and railway enterprises should 
be assured of educational privileges. 

Higher education inspired Mr. Davis with the same 
sentiment that common-school education inspired. 
After the town of Elkins had been established the Col- 
lege Board of the Northern Presbyterian Church decided 
that this was an eligible place for a denominational in- 
stitution of learning under the control of the Lexington 
Presbytery. They found Mr. Davis very sympathetic 
to the idea, and ready to provide for a substantial insti- 
tution. Senator Elkins also took a deep interest in the 
plan and bore half the expense. 

The two men gave the site for the campus, thirty 
acres, helped to make provision for the buildings, and 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 213 

contributed to the running expenses. In this manner 
Davis and Elkins College was established. The only 
condition made by Mr. Davis and Senator Elkins was 
that the Church should raise a like amount to the sum 
contributed by them. Mr. Davis also built a home for 
the president of the College. 

The corner-stone of the principal building was laid in 
August, 1903, and in a few months the college itself was 
opened. From the beginning, Mr. Davis was its prin- 
cipal supporter. In 191 1 he supplemented his previous 
gifts by an endowment of $100,000, conditioned on the 
college obtaining a similar sum. In his will the endow- 
ment was provided as a fund to be held perpetually in 
trust. 

When the corner-stone was laid, Mr. Davis in a brief 
address declared his faith in higher education, especially 
Christian education, and this motive found expression in 
the inscription, "Erected for the advancement of Chris- 
tian education, a. d., 1903." 

A man of deep religious nature, it was natural that 
Mr. Davis should be a liberal contributor to religious 
objects, and in particular to the denomination with which 
he was all his life identified. But his benefactions were 
not bounded by denominational or sectarian lines. As in 
the case of schools, letters from out-of-the-way places, 
found among his papers, give evidence of his unostenta- 
tious gifts. One from the village of Granite, Maryland, 
back in 18S0, incloses resolutions of the church and con- 
gregation thanking him for his munificent contribution. 

There is a more significant letter which illustrates his 
ideas of practical Christianity. Apparently it was writ- 
ten in response to a communication received from him. 
The text follows : 



214 JHE LIFE AND TIMES OE 

The American Baptist Home Mission Society, 
Rev. W. E. Powell, District Secretary, Kanawha District, 
916 Swan Street, 
Parkersburg, W. Va., January 11, 1898. 
Hon, Henry G. Davis, 

Washington, D. C. 
My dear Sir and Brother: 

After my kindest regards to you, I wish to say that the last 
three months have been prolific in opportunities of doing good 
with small sums of money ; and, following your advice, I have been 
on the alert to help the worthy needy ones. 

I found a student, a Christian young man, who had but one 
hand, working his way through college, in great need of books. 
Also two other young men, who had both graduated and are now 
entering the ministry, both without means, and in great need of 
books. I have bought $84.75 worth of good books and distributed 
among these worthy young men. 

I found a little church which had built a nice chapel at a cost 
of $5,000. A debt of $500 has annoyed them much for several 
years. They are making a heroic effort to pay off that debt, and 
came to me for help, so I have promised them $50. 

I found an old man, 53 years old, a true Christian, a Democrat, 
who is proud of the fact that for over 70 years he has voted the 
Democratic ticket. The old man was much troubled by a debt 
of $10. I paid it for him, and he is happy as a child over this 
help. 

I found an aged Minister, seriously afifiicted, and unable to pay 
a debt of only $25. I paid this for him, and some smaller sums 
have gone to help some orphan children. 

The whole amount I have been able to appropriate by your 
generosity during the last three months, is $184.60. These cases 
were so urgent that I have advanced nearly all of this amount 
out of my own funds. 

I hope you will not feel that I have abused your kindness by 
appropriating the $184.60. H you could have heard the earnest 
words of thanks and seen the tears of joy as I have seen them, I 
know your own heart would have been touched. There are so 
many of these cases that I have not dared to attempt to help but 
a few of the most needy. When convenient for you, I shall be 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 215 

glad to receive your check for this amount, $184.60. Praying 
that the Lord may spare you many years yet to bless mankind 
by your kindly benefactions, I am, 

Yours very truly, 

W. E, Powell. 

Across the back of this letter is written in Mr. Davis's 
handwriting: "Check for the $184.60 sent to Mr. 
Powell." 

The erection of church buildings was something that 
Mr. Davis liked to see in the new and growing communi- 
ties along with schoolhouses. He rarely failed to re- 
spond to requests for aid for this purpose, regardless of 
denominational lines. At Gassaway he erected at his 
own expense a fine stone church for the Presbyterians. 
At Elkins he provided the colored Baptists with a com- 
modious frame church. Other towns that owed their 
existence to his railway enterprises were aided in the 
same way. 

Filial sentiment found expression in the erection at 
Elkins of a memorial church to his parents. In 1894, 
in conjunction with his brother, Thomas B. Davis, he 
determined to provide a memorial with the special 
thought of their mother, who had died in July, 1868, 
after having lived to see her children honored and re- 
spected in the communities in which they lived and well 
advanced on the road to success and prosperity. No 
monument to her memory could have been more fitting 
than that which her sons decided to erect — a church dedi- 
cated to the services to which she had been so much at- 
tached during her life. The handsome stone building 
was completed and dedicated in September, 1895. 

The church was built of native light pink sandstone 
quarried near where it was erected. Stained Gothic 
windows setting forth subjects bearing upon the life of 



2i6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Christ light the body of the edifice. A large triple win- 
dow in the front, of stained glass set in lead, was the 
gift of Senator and Mrs. Elkins. 

In his journal Mr. Davis tells very briefly of the event 
that was so full of meaning to him : 

September 29, 1895. To-day Reverend Moses D. Hoge, of 
Richmond, dedicated the new stone church and Sunday-school at 
Elkins. donated by my brother Thomas and myself to Presbyte- 
rians in memory of our parents, especially mother. 

Some newspaper clippings giving an account of the 
dedication ceremonies are attached to the journal entry. 
Sixteen years later, in October, 191 1, the formal presen- 
tation of the church to the Presbyterians of Elkins was 
made by Mr. Davis as a part of special dedicatory serv- 
ices. In presenting the deed and keys, Mr. Davis paid 
a beautiful tribute to the memory of his wife, saying the 
church was a slight tribute to the memory of one whom 
he loved dearly, and with whom he lived happily for 
nearly fifty years. He also paid a tender tribute to his 
mother, to whose teachings he gave the credit for any- 
thing he might have accomplished. 

The deepest family afifection often found expression 
with Mr. Davis in some form of practical philanthropy. 
An illustration of this was the hospital erected at Elkins 
as a memorial to the eldest son, Henry G. Davis, Jr., who 
was lost at sea. It was the joint tribute of Mrs. Davis 
and himself. It represented their idea of doing good in 
an enduring way. 

The hospital was begun in the winter of 1902. A 
handsome building of stone and brick, roofed with red 
slate, was constructed. It consists of a central octagonal 
building, with two wings so arranged as to receive the 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 217 

greatest possible amount of sunlight. The hospital 
throughout is fitted with the most modern appliances and 
conveniences. Mrs. Davis did not live to see it com- 
pleted, and after her death special memorial services 
were held for her in the building. 

In his will Mr. Davis provided a permanent endow- 
ment for the maintenance of the hospital, to be supple- 
mented by such income and contributions as it may re- 
ceive from other sources. It serves a wide region in 
which are railway shops, coal-mines, and factories, and 
provides facilities for the sick and injured which other- 
wise would be unavailable except at Baltimore or other 
large cities. Its location in a section that otherwise 
would have been left without the advantages of modern 
medical researches and their application was one of 
many instances of Mr. Davis's thoughtfulness in his 
charities. 

Recalling his own struggles in early youth, and the 
cares that fell upon his mother and her children, Mr. 
Davis's sympathies always went out strongly to orphans 
and dependent children, and particularly to girls who 
lacked the means of obtaining a practical education. A 
cherished intention of his was to provide an industrial 
school for girls. This feeling found utterance in a let- 
ter addressed to Governor MacCorkle in January, 1895. 
In this letter he said : 

I feel a deep interest in the education and training of young 
girls, especially in West Virginia, whose circumstances and sur- 
roundings would prevent them from securing such advantages. 
We ought to have a State institution where girls could, at small 
expense, be able to receive such education and industrial training 
as would better fit them for the affairs of life and enable them to 
become teachers, clerks, telegraph operators, &c. thus making them 
self -supporting and of greater benefit to the State. 



2i8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

He followed this suggestion by a proposition that if 
the State would establish an institution for the purpose 
named, and make an annual appropriation sufficient for 
its support, he would give $50,000 and suitable grounds. 
Governor MacCorkle, in acknowledging the proposition, 
spoke of it as magnificent, and promptly submitted it to 
the Legislature. Mr. Davis expected that the institu- 
tion would be located at Davis or Elkins, and some op- 
position was manifested on that account. Other causes 
also prevented the Legislature from taking action ; but, 
though he was not able to carry out the idea in this form, 
he gave substantial expression to it in another manner 
which reflected his deep human sympathies and the 
trend of his charitable impulses. This was by the crea- 
tion of the Child's Shelter. 

The Children's Society of West Virginia was doing the 
best it could with limited means to rescue children from 
unfortunate surroundings and find suitable homes for 
them. 'Mr. Davis met the emergency in his usual prac- 
tical way. In the winter of 1 899-1900, he bought prop- 
erty in the city of Charleston, consisting of a large brick 
building with sufficient grounds, and presented it to the 
society. This gift he supplemented by a monthly con- 
tribution for the maintenance of the Home, and this con- 
tribution continued regularly through a period of sev- 
enteen years, to the end of his life. 

The Home was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies 
over which Governor Atkinson presided. The Governor 
paid a fitting tribute to Mr. Davis and the impetus that 
his generosity would give to carrying on the work of the 
Society. Hon. George E. Price, as trustee and repre- 
sentative of Mr. Davis, formally presented the keys to 
the Child's Shelter to Governor Atkinson, which the 
Governor in turn presented to the superintendent, Dr. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 219 

Thomas Comstock. The gift, Mr. Price said, was a 
deed of kindness that would live forever. 

Mr. Davis's own account of his interest in the Home 
is given with customary brevity in several entries in his 
journal, most of which are explanatory of newspaper 
clippings that are attached. He recites : 

March i, 1900. I to-day paid draft for $9,500, to pay for what 
is known as Bodkin property on Washington Street, about one and 
one half squares from State Capitol, for use of Children's Home 
for helpless children. I am to expend $1,000 to $1,500 in im- 
provements and repairs, and also contribute $1,000 per annum 
to support the Home. 

The canceled draft is attached to this entry. It is 
one of the few instances in which Mr. Davis kept a 
souvenir of his benefactions. The permanent endow- 
ment for the Home or Child's Shelter, provided in his 
will, assured it a definite monthly income to supplement 
what it obtains from other sources. When in Charles- 
ton he never failed to visit the Shelter, and the hundreds 
of little ones were a constant reminder of the good he 
had been able to do. During the years in which he lived 
to direct his own benefaction to it, a thousand homeless 
children were received and cared for while thev w^ere 
growing into useful men and women under its fostering 
care. That its usefulness should be continuous was his 
guiding thought in the provision for permanent endow- 
ment. 

There were many gifts and benefactions which re- 
ceived only passing comment in the entries he made in 
his journal from time to time, and these were usually 
explanatory of newspaper clippings that were attached. 
To the town of Elkins he and Senator Elkins presented 
a park. 



220 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

The Odd Fellows' Lodges received during his lifetime 
various gifts, and these were supplemented in his will 
by endowments that insured some income for the Grand 
Lodge of the State and the Elkins Lodge. A similar 
provision was made for the Masonic Order at Elkins. 

Mr. Davis believed in organized Christianity, or Chris- 
tianity at work. It was perhaps for that reason that his 
journal shows numerous evidences of both his senti- 
mental and his substantial interest in the work of the 
Young Men's Christian Association. He occasionally 
delivered addresses to the members of the Association in 
different parts of the State. In an address at Parkers- 
burg in October, 1905, he commended especially the erec- 
tion of a Y. M. C. A. building, the first to be put up in 
the State, as a good example for other towns. "The 
Sunday-school, the Y. M. C. A., and the church," he 
said, "are the three great agencies for good." And he 
concluded, "You can depend upon me for personal and 
financial aid." It need hardly be stated that the aid was 
quickly forthcoming. 

The permanent form in which Mr. Davis showed his 
faith in working Christianity is to be found at the capi- 
tal of the State. In 1906 he bought the property ad- 
joining the park that he previously had presented to the 
city of Charleston, and presented this to the Association, 
which erected on it a commodious building. He sup- 
plemented this gift by further contributions, and he took 
the greatest interest in the work. In October, 191 1, 
writing to Mr. W. B. Mathews, chairman of the program 
committee, he gave this analysis of the aspirations and 
the functions of the Young Men's Christian Association: 

"The planning and erection of this splendid building 
was an undertaking worthy of any community, and its 
completion reflects great credit upon the citizens of 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 221 

Charleston. It is essentially a tangible expression of 
the best impulses, of the highest attributes, and of the 
most ennobling traits of the good people of your city. 
It is a monument to unselfishness and an inspiration to 
the highest and best motives of mankind. With an ad- 
ministration building so commodious and complete in 
all its appointments, much should be accomplished by the 
Association in bringing within its fold the young men of 
Charleston, upon whom, more than upon all else, de- 
pends its future material and moral welfare. 

''The youth of to-day is the citizen of to-morrow, and 
he will be helpful or helpless according to the light he has 
and the path he treads. No better beacon to guide his 
footsteps than the controlling influences of the Y. M. C. 
A. At the capital of the State it is most fitting that this, 
perhaps the greatest in its sphere of the moral agencies 
of the present time, should be appropriately, even lib- 
erally, represented, and I congratulate the people of 
Charleston upon the successful issue of a campaign undi- 
vided in sentiment and compact in result. My earnest 
prayers go out for those engaged in the great work of 
fortifying young men against the temptation of evil 
ways, and of strengthening them in the mental, physical, 
and spiritual relations of life." 

Instances of the sentiment that was mingled with his 
practical suggestions could be multiplied, but enough has 
been recited to show the character of his benefactions 
and philanthropies. They were wide embracing. 



CHAPTER XV 

' FAMILY AND KINDRED ' 

Deeply rooted affections of Mr. Davis — Sentiment for the an- 
cestral home Goodfellowship — RecalHng the children of Caleb 
Davis and Louisa Brown — The four brothers — The tie between 
Henry and Thomas — A brother's tribute — Friendship for his 
cousin, Arthur P. Gorman — Warm eulogy of Senator Elkins, his 
son-in-law — Children of Henry G. Davis and Kate Bantz — Mar- 
riages, births, and deaths — Loss of eldest son at sea — Fifty years 
of ideal married life — Death of Mrs. Davis — The final resting- 
place. 

FAMILY affection was deeply rooted in the nature 
of Henry G. Davis. It found expression In a 
hundred ways. His reverence for his mother 
was one of the most attractive traits of a strong char- 
acter. She lived with him until her death, and there is 
nothing more beautiful than the many tokens of devo- 
tion that appear in all his acts during that period and 
afterward. To her he attributed many of the qualities 
that made him a successful man. After he built the hos- 
pital at Elkins, he directed that a portrait of his mother 
be hung in one of the hallways, and he never visited the 
institution without pausing before it. 

This love for his mother was interwoven with the 
deep sentiment that he felt for the place winch had 
been her home and the home of her ancestors, as well 
as of his father's ancestors. 

The old homestead in Woodstock and the Goodfellow- 
ship estate were cherished memories with him which he 

222 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 223 

sought to perpetuate. His journal contains several ac- 
counts of visits to it. In the summer of 1879 he re- 
cords : 

I meet brother John in Baltimore, and he and I drive out Fred- 
erick pike through Ellicott's Mills to Uncle John's and Sam's. 
We make a visit to our old homestead and father's grave. Many 
of the old landmarks are there, and many gone. The visit brings 
back recollections of old. We visit Woodstock. Things look 
small to us. We meet Cousin Arthur Gorman and Dr. Watkins 
at Uncle John's, and Kitty Hood Faithful meets us. We return 
same day, John to Richmond, I to Washington, 

Again, in November, 1886, he writes: 

Grace, Harry, and John, my children and I, went out to Wood- 
stock, our old home ; look over the ground where I used to play 
when a boy. Dined with Uncle John Brown, and returned to 
Baltimore same evening. 

The sentiment attaching to the home of his mother and 
his father, and the yearning to make it a perpetual fam- 
ily possession, finds expression in the journal entry of 
March 15, 1904: 

My brother Thomas and I have bought grandmother's old 
farm, Goodfellowship, near Woodstock, Maryland, 170 acres. 
We deed it to our cousin, William Howard Brown, in fee, with 
provision in deed that it is to always remain in name of Brown 
of our blood. The old place has been in mother's family, Brown, 
since the days of Lord Baltimore, and we wish it to stay for all 
time. 

Unfortunately for this aspiration, a court decision 
after Mr. Davis's death declared against the provision of 
family ownership in perpetuity. Yet it is not likely that 
Goodfellowship ever will be allowed to pass to strangers. 

Memories of Goodfellowship naturally carry the mind 
back to the family of Caleb Davis. There was a child by 



224 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

the first marriage, Nathan by name, who died in in- 
fancy, and this was the only step-brother of Henry G. 
Davis. A full sister, Elizabeth, also died in infancy. 
Another sister, Eliza, grew to womanhood, married Up- 
ton Buxton, and after she became a widow lived with 
her bachelor brother, Thomas, at Keyser. Mr. Davis 
was exceedingly fond of her, and there are many evi- 
dences of the warm feeling of kinship between them. 

The youngest of the four sons of Caleb Davis and 
Louisa Brown was William R. Davis, who was the first 
to pass away. It has been told in an earlier chapter how 
the brothers Henry and Thomas aided him in his educa- 
tion and then took him into the firm of H. G. Davis & 
Brothers. He was identified with the mercantile activi- 
ties of the firm and with the development enterprises in 
the upper Potomac for nearly twenty years. He died 
at Deer Park in March, 1879. 

John B. Davis, the eldest brother, was a very success- 
ful business man, but he did not become identified with 
the coal and timber and railway projects of his brothers. 
In early life he went to Richmond, established himself in 
business, and became identified as a banker with the chief 
city of the Old Dominion. He died in 1889. Mr. 
Davis, with Mrs. Davis and Thomas B. Davis, was sum- 
moned to Richmond, but did not reach there until after 
his death. An entry in Mr. Davis's journal gives a 
kindly impression of the bond that existed between the 
brothers, although they had not been closely associated 
after they left the paternal home at Woodstock : 

February 14, 1889. Mrs. Davis and I returned late last night 
from Richmond. We went down Tuesday morning. My brother 
Tom was with us. John died Monday morning about three 
o'clock. He was one of the best and kindest of men. All who 
knew him thought well of him. I feel the death deeply. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 225 

The affection between the two brothers, Henry and 
Thomas, was one of extraordinary depth. Thomas was 
younger by only five years, so that their Hves ran almost 
evenly together. Both had shared the privations fol- 
lowing the loss of the family fortune; both had worked 
on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and together they 
had started in business in the upper Potomac country. 
Their business relations continued until the end, but 
Thomas always referred to Henry as the leader in their 
enterprises, which was the fact. Together they cleared 
the timberlands, developed coal-mines, and opened rail- 
ways. 

Their interest in public affairs also ran parallel. Dur- 
ing the public life of Henry G., Colonel Tom, as he was 
■called, who had less liking for politics, took the most 
intense personal interest in the elder's career. When 
Henry ceased to hold public position. Colonel Tom, 
largely through his urging, occasionally ran for office, 
sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully. He 
served as a member of the West Virginia Legislature for 
one term, and later was elected to the House of Repre- 
sentatives. In acknowledging a telegram from Henry 
congratulating him on his election to Congress, Colonel 
Tom responded: "Thank you, Henry; I owe it princi- 
pally to you." This was true. 

Colonel Tom maintained his home at Keyser, and the 
elder brother spent much time there. During one of his 
winters in Congress they took rooms together at a Wash- 
ington hotel. Their business relations naturally kept 
them in close touch each with the other, but this inter- 
course was not enough to satisfy them. When they were 
apart daily letters were exchanged. 

Thomas B, Davis died at Keyser on November 26, 
191 1, in his eighty-third year. The elder brother went 



221^ THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

at once to Keyser and arranged for the burial at Elkins, 
"near where I expect to be buried." And it was at El- 
kins that Thomas B. Davis was buried. A brother's 
tribute to a brother is found in an unusual document, 
that is, in the will of Henry G. Davis. It is thus given 
in his own language : 

When we were all young men my brothers Thomas B. Davis 
and William R. Davis and myself entered into business together 
under the name of H. G. Davis & Co., which continued until the 
death of my brother William, when the firm became H. G. Davis 
& Bro., and so remained until the death of my brother Thomas 
on November 26, 191 1, leaving me the surviving partner of the 
firm, although the eldest born of the three original members there- 
of. During all this long period of partnership my brothers and 
I were in full accord in all our dealings ; all our relations both 
business and personal were always harmonious and pleasant ; and 
I wish to record here especially my appreciation of the generous 
and sympathetic cooperation of my brother Thomas, who long 
survived William, in all our business affairs extending over fifty 
years, and to speak of the affection and regard in which I held 
him and which endured and increased during this long association. 

For his cousin, Arthur Pue Gorman, Mr. Davis en- 
tertained a friendship that was profound. Mr. Gorman 
was the son of his mother's younger sister, Eliza- 
beth A. Brown, and Peter Gorman. He was born at 
Woodstock, and, though younger than Henry G. Davis, 
they were thrown much together in their early life. La- 
ter they came to be intimately associated in politics and 
business. This intimate relation was one of unbounded 
trust and confidence on the part of both. 

Davis had a keen appreciation of Gorman's political 
acumen, and thought very highly also of his business 
qualities. Gorman, on his part, understood the char- 
acter of Henry G. Davis as few men did, and probably 
possessed a greater influence over him than did anybody 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 227 

with whom he was associated throughout his long life. 
He knew the roots of that strong individuahty; but, Hke 
others, he usually preferred to accept Senator Davis as 
the leader and regarded himself as a follower. 

The letters interchanged between the two men show 
how strong was the bond between them. Usually they 
were signed "Your friend and cousin." There were 
many communications of this kind of a purely personal 
character, but there were also some of a political nature. 
In the account given of his public life it is shown how 
highly Senator Davis regarded Gorman, even to the hope 
of helping to make him President. The intimate per- 
sonal relation has more human interest. In September, 
1899, Mr. Davis's journal entry records a visit of two 
days "to my cousin and friend Hon. A. P. Gorman at his 
home near Laurel, Maryland," and there were numerous 
other visits of this kind. 

When Senator Gorman died in June, 1906, Mr. Davis, 
in recording the event, gives some indication of his own 
feelings : 

Received several telegrams telling me of death of Senator Gor- 
man. Our mothers were sisters. The Senator was serving his 
fifth term in Senate, and was one of the leaders in Senate and 
country. A trusted Democrat. He leaves many, very many 
friends. 

For another man who filled a large place in his day 
and generation, not of kin by blood, but by marriage, 
Mr. Davis conceived a friendship that was deep and 
strong. This was Stephen B. Elkins. Both were men 
of marked individuality, but in many respects their char- 
acters were directly contrary. They were opposed in 
politics, and each filled high positions of trust and honor 
bestowed on him when his party was in power. Nat- 



228 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

urally, this brought them into conflict during heated 
poHtical campaigns, yet it never was allowed to alienate 
them even temporarily. In business they were asso- 
ciated for more than thirty years and they worked har- 
moniously together. In their family relations there was 
the warmest sympathy. When Senator Elkins died in 
Washington, early in January, 191 1, Mr. Davis, in his 
journal entry, put in a single striking sentence his esti- 
mate of his son-in-law : 

Elkins was a noble, generous, brainy, and talented man. 

Marriages, births, deaths — these are the records of 
every life. The marriage of Henry G. Davis and Kate 
Bantz at Frederick, in 1853, has been told in preceding 
pages. Eight children were born of this marriage, three 
of whom died in infancy. Those who grew to woman- 
hood and manhood were Hallie, Henry, Kate, Grace, 
and John. Hallie was married to Hon. Stephen B. El- 
kins at Baltimore, in April, 1875. Kate was married 
to Lieutenant M. R. G. Brown of the Navy at Washing- 
ton, in 1886. John was married to Bessie J. Armstead 
of Brooklyn, New York, at Brooklyn, in November, 
1897. Grace was married to Arthur Lee of Richmond 
at Elkins, in September, 1898. From these unions 
sprang the group of grandchildren, the delight of Sen- 
ator Davis in his advancing years, for whom he showed 
his fondness in a thousand ways. 

Of the children who grew up, the first shadow came 
when Henry, the eldest son, was lost at sea. Possessed 
of a wandering disposition, he showed an inclination for 
the sailor's life. In 1892 he made a voyage to Libau, 
Russia, on the Missouri, a big ship loaded with grain for 
the relief of the sufferers from the great famine which 
at that time gripped with starvation the population of 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 229 

one section of the Czar's empire. Some years later he 
embarked on a voyage on a sailing vessel to South 
Africa, in the hope of regaining failing health. He 
took passage on the Monkeston from New York for 
Cape Colony, and started to return on the same vessel. 
This was in April, 1896. Early in May the family re- 
ceived a cablegram from Mt. Vincent, West Africa, say- 
ing that the son had been drowned. When the full par- 
ticulars were received later it was learned that he had 
been swept overboard during a storm. He was twenty- 
six years old at the time of his death. The blow was a 
severe one for his father and mother, but it was accepted 
with Christian fortitude. 

Kate, the second daughter, died in Washington in 
January, 1903, after a brief illness. Her husband, Lieu- 
tenant Commander Brown, died four years later. A 
bright page in his naval record was his h-eroic service on 
the Trenton at Samoa during the hurricane in 1889. 

The record of the life comradeship of Mr. Davis and 
his wife is too sacred to be written in its intimate char- 
acter, Mrs. Davis was a woman of keen intellect and 
of sprightly disposition. Temperamentally, in many re- 
spects she was the opposite of her husband. She was, 
nevertheless, in full sympathy with his aspirations and 
his ambitions. She cared less for the social side of public 
life than for her own family circle, but she never failed 
to maintain herself in a manner fitting the public respon- 
sibilities of Mr. Davis. The men and women with whom 
they were associated during his terms in the United 
States Senate and afterward always found the hospi- 
tality of the Davis home made the more congenial by the 
hostess. 

Mrs. Davis was her husband's companion on many of 
his trips, both at home and abroad. She maintained the 



230 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

family homestead at Piedmont during the early years 
of his business career, but her greatest delight was in 
the summer home at Deer Park. An entry in the jour- 
nal of Mr. Davis gives the story of an anniversary in 
their married life: 

February 22, 1878. This is the twenty-fifth or our silver-wed- 
ding-day. Time has passed so rapidly that it appears but a short 
time since our marriage, yet we have two grandchildren. 

We celebrate our twenty-fifth anniversary of marriage by giv- 
ing a dinner at our rented house and home for the winter ; dinner 
at six o'clock. Present, Judge and Mrs. A. G. Thurman of Ohio ; 
Mr. and Mrs. William Keyser and Mr. and Mrs. Alex. G. Shaw 
of Baltimore ; Governor Mathews of West Virginia ; Hon. A. P. 
Gorman; Mr. C. F. Mayer, Baltimore; T. S. Bantz (Mrs. Davis's 
brother) ; Mr. and Mrs. Elkins (our family) ; Katie, daughter, 
and ourselves, making in all fifteen persons. 

After the lapse of nearly a quarter of a century they 
were looking forward to the celebration of another an- 
niversary, their golden wedding; but this happiness was 
denied them. Mrs. Davis was taken ill in the early win- 
ter of 1902, at the family home in Elkins. Her illness 
was alarming, and in a few days hope was abandoned. 
She died on the morning of December 10, surrounded by 
the family. The tribute paid her by her husband in his 
journal may be transcribed only in part, a sentence which 
illustrates a strong man's ideal of married life : 

We loved and honored each other dearly, and tried to so live 
and act as to make each happy. 

That family and kindred might be together in death 
as in life was a deeply fixed sentiment with Mr. Davis. 
This sentiment found expression in the mausoleum he 
provided in Maplewood Cemetery at Elkins. He caused 
to be erected there a granite monument to the memory of 
his father and mother, with the dates and names of their 



I 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 231 

children. The monument adjoins that of Stephen B. 
Elkins' family. The remains of his mother were re- 
moved to this cemetery. His brother Thomas was bur- 
ied there, as was Lieutenant Commander Brown, beside 
his wife, Kate, the Davises' second daughter. Of his 
own wife, Mr. Davis recorded in his journal : 

Buried at Maplewood Cemetery near Elkins, W. Va., which is 
to be our family's final resting-place. 



CHAPTER XVI 

FAMOUS CONTEMPORARIES 

Colleagues in the Senate — Thurman, the sturdy oak of Democ- 
racy — Schurz and Sherman — Windom as Senator and Secretary 
of the Treasury — Blaine's friendship — Bayard's esteem — Qual- 
ities in common with Allison — Vice-Presidents Wheeler and Hen- 
dricks — Benjamin Harrison's personality — Porfirio Diaz and 
Mexico — A page from contemporary history — The Cuban War — 
W. W. Corcoran, the philanthropist — Andrew Carnegie — Rail- 
way men and events — The great strike of 1877 — John W. Garrett 
as a board of directors — Annual dinners to railway presidents — 
Estimate of George B. Roberts and A. J. Cassatt — George F. 
Baer — Presentation of urn to Mr. Davis — Daniel Willard and 
the younger generation of contemporaries. 

THE names of public men after they are gone float 
swiftly down the stream of oblivion. Later gen- 
erations recall few of them. Yet in certain pe- 
riods there are groups of these men whose memories do 
not so quickly vanish. Great events produce them. 
Mr. Davis served in the Senate of the United States at 
a time when there were many giants among his contem- 
poraries. The names of some of these and the parts 
they played in the drama of national life begin to fade. 
The story of that period as told in previous chapters may 
be retold only to show his own intimate relation with 
some of them. 

Allen G. Thurman of Ohio was the sturdy oak of the 
National Democratic party in the era following the Civil 

War. For ten years the two were colleagues in the 

232 




11 III II II iiniiiinin r i'Tr'"'~Tir-''~-^'''nr-^ 

Davis Memorial Church at Elkins 




Davis Memorial Hospital at Elkins 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 233 

Senate and their associations were of the most intimate 
character. Davis admired and revered Senator Thur- 
man's intellect. Thurman had the greatest confidence 
in the judgment of Senator Davis, leaned on him in mat- 
ters of party tactics and in personal affairs, and always 
called him affectionately by his first name. What 
"Henry" thought about some question of political strat- 
egy, and where "Henry" was when Thurman himself 
was under some great personal strain, was always the in- 
quiry of the Ohio leader of the Democracy. 

Carl Schurz was another figure of note when Mr. 
Davis first entered the Senate. The cold analytic intel- 
lect and the German mind of Mr. Schurz with its de- 
structive criticism would not appear to have attraction 
for the matter-of-fact intellect and the constructive mind 
of Senator Davis; but, while there was no intimacy be- 
tween the two men, there was a mutual respect which 
brought them into friendly relations and continued after 
Mr. Schurz entered the Cabinet of President Hayes. 

John Sherman had a genuine liking for Senator 
Davis. While they quarreled in the Senate over Treas- 
ury bookkeeping and over financial questions, Sherman 
had great respect for Davis's opinions and frequently 
consulted him on fiscal subjects, sometimes writing for 
his views and sometimes seeking the opportunity of a 
personal talk. He was occasionally the guest of Senator 
Davis at Deer Park, and on those occasions other guests 
observed a warmth of sympathy that seemed to be drawn 
out by Mr. Davis himself. 

Among all the men who were in the Senate as his col- 
leagues. Senator Davis was drawn to William Windom 
of Minnesota as to few others. They served together on 
the same committees, and were of kindred minds in the 
fiscal and other subjects of legislation which required 



234 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

knowledge of economics in the broadest sense. Senator 
Windom was associated with Mr. Davis in his business 
enterprises, and there was no one on whose judgment 
Mr. Davis was willing to defer so much as to him. 
When Mr. Windom was Secretary of the Treasury un- 
der President Harrison they were frequently together, 
and Mr. Davis probably had more to do than was gen- 
erally known with shaping certain Treasury policies. 
Mr. Davis's estimate of his former colleague is given in 
two entries in his journal : 

January 30, 1891. This morning the country was shocked and 
surprised at the sudden death of Secretary of the Treasury, Hon. 
William Windom. He had just delivered a speech at annual din- 
ner of New York Board of Trade, and in five minutes after fin- 
ishing was dead. He was a good, valuable man, and my close 
friend. He was four years my junior. I served in Senate with 
him and had respect and affection for him. I attended funeral 
as one of the family. 

A newspaper clipping, accompanying" a picture of Sec- 
retary Windom, gave occasion for this comment : 

This is very good of my friend Windom; he was a noble and 
good man. The world is better that Windom lived in it. 

The friendship between James G. Blaine and Henry G. 
Davis has been shown in many paragraphs in these 
pages. Mr. Davis felt the magnetic qualities of Mr. 
Blaine, as he had felt those of Henry Clay, but there 
was something beyond these personal qualities. It was 
not, on Mr. Davis's part, based entirely on respect for 
Mr. Blaine's knowledge of public questions, for he did 
not hesitate to criticize the great Republican leader. 
Though he had a great admiration for Mr. Blaine's in- 
tellect, he was distrustful of his brilliancy. Their 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 235 

friendship began when they were colleagues in the Sen- 
ate. 

Sometimes sharply differing on public questions from 
his party colleagues, Mr. Blaine was not without sym- 
pathy with attacks made by Senator Davis on the posi- 
tion maintained by them, and it is more than tradition 
that on one occasion he helped Senator Davis "round 
out" a speech that was somewhat disturbing to several 
of the Republican leaders in the Senate. The social in- 
timacy of the two men was cemented by close business 
associations. It was, however, as a contemporary of 
Senator Davis, who to Mr. Blaine represented the em- 
bodiment of common sense, that in his 'Twenty Years 
of Congress" he summed up the salient traits of Mr. 
Davis's character as a public man. 

Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware was a contemporary 
who filled a large space in public life during the periods 
when Mr. Davis also was prominent. The scholarly 
Senator from Delaware was strongly drawn to the 
rugged Senator from West Virginia. Yet, though be- 
longing to the same political organization, they fre- 
quently held strongly divergent views on public ques- 
tions. Senator Bayard, in his association with Mr. 
Davis in railway enterprises, relied entirely on the lat- 
ter's judgment. While Secretary of State during Pres- 
ident Cleveland's first administration and Ambassador 
to Great Britain during the second administration, he 
never failed to keep in touch with his former colleagues. 

William B. Allison of Iowa, who for a quarter of a 
century dominated the expenditures of the National Gov- 
ernment through his chairmanship a part of the time of 
the powerful Appropriations Committee, and the re- 
mainder of the time through his general knowledge and 



536 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

his personality, was one of the contemporaries to whom 
Senator Davis was closely drawn. They had much in 
common. Senator Allison, as a legislator with a very 
practical mind, could appreciate and did appreciate the 
same qualities in Senator Davis. They worked together 
harmoniously in committee, and on the floor of the Sen- 
ate they usually were fourld in complete sympathy in 
whatever related to the expenditures of the Government. 
Until the close of his life. Senator Allison always wel- 
comed a visit from Mr. Davis after the latter had ceased 
to be a Senator. 

William A. Wheeler, in his day an influential mem- 
ber of Congress who left his impress on the period in 
which he served, was another contemporary for whom 
Mr. Davis cherished a warm regard. Few now recall 
that he was Vice-President when Rutherford B. Hayes 
was President, and presided over the Senate with a grace 
and impartiality that disarmed partizan hostility. A 
hint of their friendship is given in the journal entries 
of Senator Davis when he records that Vice-President 
Wheeler frequently called him to the chair. 

Vice-President Thomas A. Hendricks was a contem- 
porary of his own political faith with whom his rela- 
tions, while not intimate, were friendly, although he was 
not in the Senate during the brief period that Mr. Hen- 
dricks served as Vice-President before death called him. 
They had met at Democratic National Conventions and 
had had some association in campaign management. 
When Grover Cleveland was nominated for President 
and the selection for Vice-President lay between Mr. 
Hendricks and Mr. Davis, he had advised the selection 
of Hendricks. Mr. Davis had a warm admiration for 
Hendricks as one of the principal intellectual forces of 
the Denwcratic party. His personal regard was shown 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 217 

when he named one of the stations on his railway, 
Hendricks. 

President Benjamin Harrison was the contemporary 
who of all public men received from Mr, Davis the great- 
est meed of respect for his intellectual qualities and his 
capacity as a political leader. Their service in the Sen- 
ate did not run parallel for a long period, since General 
Harrison entered it when Senator Davis was closing his 
term. But the two men were attracted to each other 
from their first meeting. That the friendship between 
them developed into the closest kind of social intimacy 
has been shown in the chapters on Deer Park and on 
the political activities of Mr. Davis. He often com- 
mented on the grasp that President Harrison had on 
governmental affairs and the clearness with which he 
formulated political principles. 

General Harrison, on his part, confessed a definite 
lack of ability when it came to his own business affairs, 
and he would turn to Mr. Davis for advice regarding 
private investments. He also had great respect for the 
judgment of Mr. Davis in public matters, and he did not 
hesitate to seek it, regardless of party differences, even 
to the composition of his Cabinet. It gave him Tiiuch 
satisfaction when in a non-political appointment !:&■ was 
able to honor the Senator by designating him as; one of 
the delegates to the First International American Con- 
ference. When new issues arose, growing out of the 
Spanish- American War, the two men found themselves 
in sympathy. General Harrison was among the elder 
statesmen of the Republican party who were not in ac- 
cord with the Philippine policy and who distrusted the 
possibility of imperialism. Mr. Davis was also distrust- 
ful of the Philippines and of the imperialistic tendencies. 
They corresponded on the subject. 



238 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

In the field of international affairs there was one con- 
temporary of whom Mr. Davis was intensely apprecia- 
tive. This was Porfirio Diaz of Mexico. When he vis- 
ited Mexico in 1895 he was already known for his identi- 
fication with the Pan-American Railway project. He 
had helped to initiate it in the International American 
Conference and had been active in the Intercontinental 
Survey. Mexico, as one of the countries on the inter- 
continental trunk line route, was interested in the gen- 
eral subject. It was also interested in railway construc- 
tion as a means of internal development and political 
stability. Something was known by President Diaz of 
Henry G. Davis as a railway builder and as the expo- 
nent of an idea. They had several interviews, and 
through the President of Mexico Mr. Davis learned 
something of the Diaz policy. 

Seven years later, when, as the chairman of the Amer- 
ican Delegation to the Mexican Conference, he was en- 
abled to give more definite shape to the Pan-American 
Railway project, Mr. Davis received the heartiest co- 
operation from President Diaz, who took a personal in- 
terest in furthering his plans. After Mr. Davis's return 
to th<ti-TJnited States, President Diaz never failed to make 
inquiries regarding his activities, and occasionally he 
transTTjitted personal messages. 

Mr. Davis found occasion to give his estimate of Por- 
firio Diaz in a book that was published a short time be- 
fore the revolutionary storm broke over Mexico. He 
wrote in 19 10: 

General Diaz is a striking and commanding figure in modern 
times. Probably no country during the past century has felt the 
influence of any one man more than Mexico has of General Diaz. 
Although a soldier both by profession and nature, whose military 
services had been of the highest order, yet his greatest victo- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 239 

ries have been in the direction of peace and tranquillity. . . . 
Under his forcible and effective administration of affairs the 
people have advanced in all lines of domestic and commercial 
welfare, and the Republic has been brought to a much higher 
plane in the sisterhood of nations. His personal character and ex- 
ecutive strength have been a guaranty of the safety of foreign 
capital, the introduction of which has done so much to aid in the 
development of the country's wonderful mineral and other re- 
sources. One may speak of almost any country of the world 
without anyone predominating therein, but Mexico and Diaz are 
inseparable. He has built so well that I am sure the foundation 
he has laid will endure, and that Mexico will continue under his 
successors in the march of progress in which he has so masterfully 
led it. 

Events showed that Mr. Davis's judgment was at fault 
regarding stable conditions in Mexico. He lived to see 
President Diaz, a contemporary whose life ran almost 
parallel with his own, driven into exile and death. 
Sometimes he commented on this tragic occurrence, but 
it did not change his estimate of Porfirio Diaz and the 
good that Diaz had wrought for Mexico. 

Contemporary events as well as contemporary men 
were recorded by Mr. Davis. What more vivid picture 
of a momentous episode in the history of tV l United 
States than this page from his journal: 

\ : ; 
March 31, 1898. For about a month the countryhis b een in 

an excited state about the U. S. and Spain question, CA^-Jcin inde- 
pendence, and the blowing up of the Maine in Havana harbor. 
Best informed men think probabilities of war about equal. Pres- 
ident McKinley, Speaker Reed, Senator Elkins, are what is termed 
peace men. 

April 13, 1898. Much excitement in the country generally 
about war between U. S. and Spain in regard to independence of 
Cuba. Chances of war and peace about equal. 

April 20, 1898. War has commenced between U. S. and Spain. 
War caused by Spain's brutal war on the Cubans, who arc fight- 



240 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ing for their liberty and right of self-government. Also, blow- 
ing up of U. S. war vessel Maine in harbor of Havana. Official 
date of war is April 21, 1898. 

May 10, 1898. On ist inst Com. Dewey's great naval victory 
at Manila. Country in great enthusiasm over Dewey victory. 
125,000 volunteers for war called, 600,000 offer. Com. Sampson 
gone with ships to Porto Rico, expect news of fighting soon. 

May 16, 1898. U. S. and Spain war preparations going on 
rapidly. Naval battle daily expected off Cuba. 

August 12, 1898. Protocol of peace between U. S. and Spain 
signed by French Minister Cambon for Spain and Secretary 
Day for U. S. President McKinley issued proclamation of 
peace. 

Among Mr. Davis's contemporaries, entirely outside 
of the list of public men and political leaders, was W. W. 
Corcoran, the Washington banker and philanthropist. 
Mr. Corcoran was a few years older, but his life cov- 
ered nearly the same period in its earlier activities as did 
that of Mr. Davis. The foundation of his fortune was 
laid during the Mexican War in the loan negotiated for 
the Government, and he rarely ventured beyond this 
field of financing; but he was sympathetic with the con- 
structive enterprises of Mr. Davis. Their social rela- 
tions J'.wtrt of the closest character, and when one of Mr. 
Corc(|jcan' most notable charities, the Louise Home for 
indig^j-jint gentlewomen, was dedicated, he insisted on the 
preseiic^^of Mrs. Davis as a special guest. 

Andrew Carnegie was a contemporary whom Mr. 
Davis looked up to with something akin to reverence, 
and on his part Mr. Carnegie regarded Mr. Davis as a 
distinctive figure in national history. Their construc- 
tive work and industry may have been the sympathetic 
bond on which their friendship was based. Their real 
kindredship found expression in their mutual interest 
in the Pan-American countries, and in particular in the 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 241 

Pan-American Railway project. They worked together 
for this project at the First International American Con- 
ference, and when the Second Conference at Mexico pro- 
vided for the permanent Pan-American Railway Com- 
mittee, with Mr. Davis as its chairman, his first request 
was that Mr. Carnegie serve on the Committee with him. 
This Mr. Carnegie did. 

Whenever he was in Washington he took time to call 
on "The Senator," as he always designated Mr. Davis. 
Many letters were interchanged between them. A char- 
acteristic letter related to the Pan-American Railway 
project. It was written at a time when Mr. Davis felt 
that governmental agencies in furthering this project 
were somewhat too slow and might be hastened by the 
aid of private enterprise: 

My dear Mr. Chairman : 

Yours of January 31st received. I can only repeat that the 
railway extension proposed is a wise missionary effort and I shall 
be glad to join your syndicate. You cannot engage in a nobler 
work and we youngsters all take heart when we see the old vet- 
eran with his coat off. 
With best wishes, 

Always very truly yours, 

Andrew Carnegie. 

Much of the life and times of Henry G. Davis, as it 
has been written, relates to his work as a railway builder. 
A supplemental chapter might be written on his rela- 
tions with his railway contemporaries, the leading men 
of two generations, and of his observations on events 
that formed important periods in railway history. 
Nothing is more vivid than the brief description in his 
journal of the greatest railway strike in the history of 
the country. The whole story is found in these entries, 
which form a contemporary account : 



242 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

July i6, 1877. The other trunk lines having made a reduction 
of ten per cent, of all employees, the Baltimore & Ohio gives 
notice they will do the same, taking effect to-day. The brakemen 
and firemen strike, commencing at Baltimore and Martinsburg. 
It soon extends all over the road, and no freight trains are al- 
lowed to run by the strikers; mail and passenger trains run as 
usual. 

July 18, 1877. Governor Mathews of West Va. resisted calling 
on Federal Government for troops as long as safety to property 
would allow. He called on i8th. At Baltimore there were a 
number of lives lost. Mob stoned military when called out and 
on way to Camden depot. The troops fired on mob, killing about 
twenty. 

July 22, 1877. Strike on B. & O. continues. All is quiet on 
this road, only passenger trains are run. Strike commences on 
Pa. Central road at Pittsburgh on 20th. It is becoming very 
alarming. Many persons are killed. Some of the military are 
among the killed. 

July 21, 1877. Mob, including railroad strikers and many 
others (women and children included), have complete possession 
of Pittsburgh. Nearly all the property of Pa. Central Railroad 
is destroyed, among which is nearly three or four thousand cars 
and contents, 120 or 130 engines, shops, roundhouses, depots, etc., 
estimated loss $8,000,000. 

July 22, 1877. Strike has become nearly general on railroads 
in the country. Only day passenger trains now run on B. & O., 
and most of the other roads. 

July 23, 1877. Strike continues and is now general all over the 
country. There has been a great deal of property destroyed, es- 
pecially at Pittsburgh. 

Some of his experiences, however, were not recorded 
in his journal, but were told on the rare occasions when 
he was in a reminiscent vein. One incident, which it 
always pleased him to recall, related to the era when the 
railway president usually was the man whose individ- 
uality and force had made him such and who conse- 
quently dominated the policy of the company. It was 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 243 

the age of the railway autocrats. One of these who left 
a large impress on the history of the country was John 
W. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio. 

Long after Mr. Davis had left the employ of this com- 
pany, and when he had important lumber and coal con- 
tracts with it, he went to Baltimore to see about a new 
contract involving some important operations. With 
his customary business forethought he had the document 
drawn up in legal form with a view to saving time. He 
went over the provisions with President Garrett, who 
was satisfied with them, and then suggested that when 
the Board of Directors held their next meeting they 
should approve it and enable him to go forward with the 
work. 

"Davis," said President Garrett, ''when I am here the 
Board of Directors is always in session. Here's your 
contract" ; and he affixed his signature. 

In February, 1884, when he was at the height of his 
West Virginia projects, Mr. Davis gave a dinner to 
President Garrett at the Arlington Hotel in Washing- 
ton. "There were present," he records, "besides the 
host and his guest, Secretary Folger, Postmaster-Gen- 
eral Howe, Senators Bayard, Sherman, Windom, Pen- 
dleton, Gorman, and Camden, Representatives Hoge, 
Kenna, Wilson, McLane, and Flower." The friendship 
between President Garrett and Mr. Davis was a very 
intimate one. When Mr. Garrett died at Deer Park in 
the autumn of the same year, Mr. Davis was one of the 
honorary pall-bearers and accompanied the remains to 
Baltimore. 

In January, 1887, he gave a dinner at Baltimore to 
Senator Gorman concerning which he made this entry: 

Guests, President Roberts and Vice-President Thomson of 
Pennsylvania R. R., President Robert Garrett and Vice-President 



244 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Samuel Spencer of B. &. O., President Barnum of Hoosatonic 
R. R. and director in West Virginia Central, President Baughman 
of Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, Enoch Pratt, the philanthropist, and 
Mr. Burns, chairman of B. & O. Finance Committee, and S. B. 
Elkins, president of Piedmont & Cumberland Railroad. 

Mr. Davis was always a welcome guest at the social 
entertainments given by the high officials of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad. In February, 1890, he recorded that he 
had been to a number of dinners, among them that of 
Mr. G. B. Roberts, president of the Pennsylvania Road, 
at Philadelphia. ''I sat on Mr. R's left. Many noted 
gentlemen present, among them G. W. Childs, A. J. 
Drexel, &c." Two years later he went over to Phila- 
delphia to dine with Mr. Frank Thomson. "The dinner 
was a noted one — Messrs. Roberts, Depew, Hill, Pugh, 
Whitney, Bristow, &c. Pierpont Morgan sat on right 
and I the left of Frank Thomson." 

The following year, and in subsequent years, he was 
again the guest of Mr. Roberts. Railway men will read 
with special interest his characteristic comment on that 
great figure in the railway world. It occurs in his jour- 
nal under date of February 2, 1897, attached to a news- 
paper clipping and picture of Mr. Roberts : 

Mr. Roberts, president of Penna. Road, died a few days ago. 
He was a great and noble man ; he was my friend. Among rail- 
way men he was generally conceded to be the first and ablest in 
the country. Died at sixty-five, old by overwork. Pennsylvania 
road is longest in the world. Revenue about $140,000,000. 

For Alexander J. Cassatt, who became the head of the 
Pennsylvania system after Mr. Roberts's death, Mr. 
Davis entertained the greatest admiration. There was 
a sympathetic bond between them because Mr. Cassatt, 
like Mr. Davis himself, was a believer in the Pan- Ameri- 
can Railway project, and lent the weight not only of his 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 245 

name but of his experience to it, since he served as the 
head of the Intercontinental Railway Survey Commis- 
sion. A newspaper clipping pasted in his journal, under 
date of January 18, 1900, gives an account of a dinner 
to Mr. Cassatt : 

Ex-Senator Henry G. Davis of West Virginia gave an elegantly 
appointed dinner to-day in honor of President Cassatt of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the guests being all men of note 
in the railway world. The dinner was entirely a social affair 
and had no connection with any railroad consolidation or other 
business matters. Guests — A. J. Cassatt, president of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad ; John K. Cowen, president of the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad; Oscar Murray, of the Baltimore and Ohio; 
Samuel Spencer, president of the Southern ; M. E. Ingalls, presi- 
dent of the Big Four; Chauncey M. Depew, president of the New 
York Central; J. S. Harris, president of the Reading; George F. 
Baer, vice-president of the Reading; W. L. Elkins, of the Wi- 
dener-Elkins syndicate; Senator Gorman; Mr. Green. 

To the newspaper clipping Mr. Davis added this com- 
ment: 

It is believed that $1,000,000,000 of railway property was rep- 
resented at above table. Never before so many great railway 
presidents at same table. 

Mr. George F. Baer of the Reading, a conspicuous and 
combative figure in his day, was a warm friend of Mr. 
Davis and was his guest sometimes in Washington and 
sometimes at the summer home in Elkins. Mr. Davis 
entertained Mr. Baer in Washington in the midwinter of 
1907. 

President Oscar G. Murray of the Baltimore and Ohio 
was the guest of honor at a dinner given a year later, 
which included, among the guests other than railway of- 
ficials. Chairman M. A. Knapp of the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission, James Speyer, the banker, and scv- 



246 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

eral leading public men. The dinner the following year 
was a notable one. Mr. Davis was then in his eighty- 
fourth year. His account of it follows : 

I gave a dinner to railway presidents and vice-presidents. 
Twenty-four present. All went off well. Nearly all east of 
Ohio present. 

The feeling entertained toward Mr. Davis by the 
high railway officials who were in the habit of meeting 
at his board found permanent expression, at the sugges- 
tion of President Frederick D. Underwood of the Erie 
system, at the dinner given in February, 1908. On that 
occasion an urn was presented to Mr. Davis which told 
the story of the respect in which he was held in these 
words : 

The Honorable 
Henry Gassaway Davis 
a token of love and esteem 
From his associates in the Railroad Service 
Washington, D. C, February ist, 1908 
Edward B. Bacon Charles Edmund Pugh 

William Abner Garrett Charles L. Potter 

Oscar George Murray Alexander Robertson 

William Nelson Page George F. Randolph 

James M. Schoonmaker 
Henry Benning Spencer 
Frederick D. Underwood 
Daniel Willard 

The last of these railway dinners was given on March 
4, 1914, in Washington, when Mr. Davis was in his 
ninetieth year. It was in honor of Daniel Willard, pres- 
ident of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for whom Mr. 
Davis entertained the highest respect as the best type of 
the younger generation of railway presidents who were 
grappling with the new conditions, economic and politi- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 247 

cal, that were developing. How deeply this sentiment 
was reciprocated by Mr. Willard is apparent from an 
autograph under a photograph of himself which hung 
in the Senator's office: ''From the youngest to the 
oldest railway president." 

Mr. Davis's modest account of the dinner appears in 
this entry : 

March 4, 19 14. My railway dinner to President Willard last 
night was a success; adjourn about twelve o'clock. President 
Willard, Senator Owen, Hon. Oscar Underwood, President 
Schoonmaker, Judge Parker, and President Rea spoke. 

The newspapers published a fuller story, mentioning 
the presence in particular of Judge Parker at the board 
of the man who had been his running mate on the Pres- 
idential ticket ten years earlier, and giving the complete 
list of the guests. These included the leading railway 
officials of the country, many of them born after Mr. 
Davis had reached middle age. Yet they were his con- 
temporaries. 



CHAPTER XVII 

A SHEAF OF LETTERS 

Gleanings from many contemporaries — Political history un- 
folded in correspondence — Senator Thurman's expectations in the 
famous Ohio campaign of 1875 — George H. Pendleton on fac- 
tional politics — Many communications from William Windom — 
Hopes and fears in the tragedy of Garfield's life — Comment from 
Paris on parties and candidates in 1884 — European travel — In- 
dignation over Blaine caricatures — Lines from Samuel J. Ran- 
dall and Augustus H. Garland — West Virginia correspondents — 
Appreciation from the tv^o Goffs — ^W. L. Wilson's ambition. 

CHAPTERS of political history, momentous 
events, are illumined vividly in letters written to 
Mr. Davis by men of the generations with which 
he was identified. More than a thousand of these com- 
munications show how close were his relations with lead- 
ing men for more than half a century. The most inter- 
esting are those that were penned before the typewriter 
had come to be the mechanical means of facil'tating cor- 
respondence. It was rarely, too, even in the days be- 
fore the typewriter, that amanuenses were resorted to 
by his correspondents. Statesmen in those days were 
not so pressed for time that they were unable to write 
their own letters to those who enjoyed their confidence. 
Examination of these contemporary documents — for 
such they are — give many glimpses of political occur- 
rences behind the scenes. They cast sidelights on event- 
ful episodes of national history, but they also cover many 
subjects unrelated to politics and public affairs. They 

248 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 249 

are evidences of the deep attachment felt for Mr. Davis, 
and they also exhibit the personal qualities of the writers. 

Political correspondence naturally fills a large space in 
this volume of epistolary literature. Some of it relates 
to Mr. Davis's own career both in his State and in the 
nation, but the larger part covers a wider field. The re- 
liance placed on his common sense and his shrewd judg- 
ment is evidenced in numerous communications. There 
is also a sheaf of letters bearing witness to the frequent 
appeals made to a man of wealth who is in public life 
and who is ready to forward the political cause he 
espouses. 

The close political and personal relations between Sen- 
ator Allen G. Thurman and Senator Davis have been 
described in previous chapters. Some of the letters af- 
ford further illustrations of this intimacy, w^hile at the 
same time they illuminate the politics of the period. 

A brief letter from Senator Thurman gives a concise 
forecast of one of the most interesting episodes in Amer- 
ican political history and one that was a determining fac- 
tor in nominating a President. This relates to the fa- 
mous Ohio campaign of 1875, when the soft money issue 
was fought out in a contest that absorbed the country 
from end to end. Judge Thurman's uncle, William Al- 
len, who had served in the Senate, had been elected Gov- 
ernor of Ohio by the Democrats in the political reaction 
of 1873. This came to him after a long retirement to 
private life. His opponents had characterized his re- 
appearance by designating him as *'Rise-Up William 
Allen." 

Governor Allen had espoused the greenback cause and 
made it the leading issue in his canvass for reelection. 
Senator Thurman, while not fully in sympathy with the 
greenback issue, had adapted his views to his party's 



250 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

stand, and was preparing to support the ticket. Before 
the campaign was under way, replying to an invitation 
to visit West Virginia, he wrote to Senator Davis from 
Cohimbus in May as follows : 

My dear Senator: 

Thanks for your invitation. The trip would give me much 
pleasure could I take it. But I am engaged to speak next week 
and probably longer in Cincinnati and must keep my promise. 
We had a glorious meeting of the leading Democrats of Ohio here 
last Thursday, and it will have a good effect. We will have a 
hard fight, but we are confident of carrying the State. The very 
best feeling prevails in the State. 

In a letter just a few days before the election, that is, 
on October 4, Senator Thurman wrote : 

I think that Allen will be elected. . . . There never has been 
such a political campaign in the U. S. The Rads are desperate 
and it looks as if they will stop at nothing. 

Senator Thurman's judgment proved to be wrong. 
After a notable campaign Rutherford B. Hayes was 
elected over Governor Allen, and his election as Gov- 
ernor of Ohio opened the way for the Presidential nom- 
ination the following year which brought him to the 
White House. 

In 1878 it was well understood that Senator Thurman 
would be a candidate for the Presidential nomination 
two years later. Senator Davis had returned from his 
European trip and already was interesting himself in 
his friend's prospects. Judge Thurman wrote from 
Columbus under date of August 19: 

I have just received yours of i6th, and am rejoiced that you 
have reached home and are well. I hope that you enjoyed your 
trip to the Old World. I fear that I will not be able to visit Deer 
Park. I do long to make you a visit, but the Democracy of Ohio 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 251 

are inexorable. They have no mercy on me; so I have to take 
the stump. We have some doubtful Congressional districts that 
ought not to be doubtful. But they are, and the Democrats all 
say that my services in them are necessary. I think that we will 
carry the State, but the fight will be a hard one. Our State 
Convention was all I could wish. There is no dissension here 
now. As to my speech, be assured it is right. But we will talk 
on that when we meet. Give my love to your family and the 
Elkinses. 

The social ties of the two families was evidenced in a 
letter from Columbus in June, 1883; 

My dear Davis: 

We are heartily rejoiced to know that we are to have a visit 
from Mrs. Davis and yourself. Don't fail to come and make us 
a good stay. 

In later years there were other letters indicating both 
the social and the political intimacy of the two men. 

Senator George H. Pendleton, who entered the Sen- 
ate in 1878, was also a friend of Senator Davis, and 
while the relations were not so intimate as had been 
those between Senator Thurman and Senator Davis, 
they were close enough to be confidential. Senator 
Davis, knowing from his own experience the importance 
of a good seat In the Senate chamber, had taken care 
to provide his own for the new Ohio Senator, he him- 
self, following the custom, having taken one vacated by 
an outgoing Senator. Senator Pendleton, in acknowl- 
edging the courtesy, added : 

One of the pleasures I feel in being elected to the Senate is the 
opportunity it will afford of association with men whom I have 
known well and have learned to admire, and with none more than 
yourself. 

A passing view of Ohio factional politics is given in a 



252 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF* 

letter several years later referring to a newspaper article. 
The substance of this article was that John R. McLean, 
who controlled the powerful Cincinnati Enquirer, had 
made a bargain to save Ohio for Governor Cleveland in 
return for the entire State patronage. Senator Pen- 
dleton was deeply concerned over this rumor, as appears 
from a letter addressed to Mr. Davis at Deer Park and 
written from Cincinnati on September 5, 1884: 

I cut the inclosed from the Commercial Gazette of this city pur- 
porting to be copy of an article in the New York Star. What 
truth is there in the reported "dicker" between McLean and 
Cleveland? What foundation for the rumor? You know why 
I feel an interest in the matter, and how closely I would guard 
any information you might give me. 

Present me kindly to the ladies. 

One of President Cleveland's first official acts was to 
nominate ex-Senator Pendleton as Minister to Germany, 
so that it was clear that there had been no dicker with 
Editor McLean over the Ohio patronage. 

The warm friendship and the congenial tastes of Wil- 
liam Windom and Henry G. Davis are shown in numer- 
ous letters from Mr. Windom. They cover every sub- 
ject — politics, business and personal affairs. Usually 
on political questions when one or the other was absent 
from the Senate they were paired. When Senator 
Davis was a candidate before the West Virginia Legis- 
lature for reelection and there was no prospect of elect- 
ing a Republican, Senator Windom wrote him from the 
Senate chamber, January 24, 1877, this letter: 

My dear Davis: 

As there seems to be little hope of our getting a straight Re- 
publican Senator from West Va., I do most heartily hope you may 
be successful. If I was a Rep. member, I would, under the cir- 
cumstances, be most happy to give you my vote. Your services 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 253 

to the State in the matter of internal improvements alone ought 
to commend you to both parties, and for my part, thoroughly 
sympathizing with your views on that subject, I feel a great 
anxiety for your reelection. Hoping that the telegraph to-day 
will announce the pleasant intelligence that we are to have you 
with us six years longer, I remain. 

Sincerely your friend, 

William Windom. 

After Senator Windom entered President Garfield's 
Cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury many letters were 
exchanged with Senator Davis. In' several of these 
communications the overshadowing national gloom 
caused by the assassin's bullet is reflected, although at 
times there is a cheerful note due to the temporary favor- 
able condition of the patient. In reply to an invitation 
from Senator Davis to come to Deer Park with his fam- 
ily, Secretary Windom on August 10, 1881, wrote: 

It would be exceedingly pleasant to do so, but I think it will be 
impossible to get away. The President's condition compels me to 
remain here. ... I am not pleased with the President's recent 
condition, though the doctors seem to think that there is in it no 
cause for serious anxiety. They report that he is doing very 
well to-day, and I am still hopeful of his continued improvement. 

Two weeks later the growing hope that President Gar- 
field was past the danger point was indicated in a letter 
from Secretary Windom saying : 

I am happy to inform you that the President's condition is still 
very favorable. He has not gained much strength and not made 
any very great apparent progress, but he is holding his own, and 
the doctors think that in a few days he will begin to show a 
marked change for the better. We are all now very hopeful. 

It was the opinion of Senator Davis that if the stricken 
President could be removed to the bracing mountain air 
of Deer Park his chances of recovery would he improved. 



254 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

John W. Garrett, of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
was of the same opinion. They arranged to provide 
every comfort possible to facilitate the railway journey 
and to care for the distinguished patient after he should 
arrive at Deer Park. Their plan was communicated to 
Secretary Windom in a letter from Senator Davis mailed 
on September 2. Replying on the following day, Secre- 
tary Windom wrote : 

I will take pleasure in presenting the very kind offer of your- 
self and Mr. Garrett to the President's surgeons for their con- 
sideration. I think it is undecided yet to what place they will 
move him, or when it will be done. My impression is that they 
intend to make the change as soon as his condition permits, but 
fear that at present he is too weak. There has been but little 
change in him during the last two or three days, though the doc- 
tors still speak cheerfully of the prospect. 

The doctors ultimately decided that the seashore would 
be better than the mountains, and President Garfield's 
removal to Elberon was accomplished. Later it was 
known that neither mountain air nor ocean air could 
have saved him. 

Secretary Windom's temporary retirement from pub- 
lic life did not lessen his interest in political affairs. Hf» 
wrote to Senator Davis from his home at Winona in 
Minnesota on September 22, 1882: 

My dear Davis: 

It seems an age since I have heard from you. How are you? 
How are the political elements shaping? Shall you come back to 
the Senate ? How is our West Virginia Central enterprise show- 
ing up? Is there anything new about the Coal and Iron? Tell 
me all you know about everything, and especially about yourself 

and family. 

I am having a disagreeable political contest in my own party, 
aided by a few of the Satanic class in the Democratic party. 
The respectable portion of your party is friendly. Dunnell and 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 255 

the Devil let loose all the liars who are not otherwise employed on 
me, but I shall beat them unless I am greatly mistaken in the 
temper of my own people. . . . How I should enjoy a week or 
two with you in the mountains of West Virginia ! 

Mr. Windom with his family visited Europe in the 
spring of 1884. He corresponded with Mr. Davis about 
many subjects, sometimes also giving his impressions of 
life abroad. In a long letter from Paris, dated April 2, 
1884, he wrote: 

My dear Davis: 

I am inclined to think you are even a worse correspondent than 
myself, as I wrote you about three months ago and have received 
no reply. I presume you are very busy, as usual, but you must 
not be permitted to forget your old friends and I will therefore 
write again. We returned to Paris last Saturday from our Italian 
trip in excellent health and spirits. I need not say we had a grand 
good time, for no one can visit southern Italy without enjoying 
it, always providing that the fever doesn't get hold of him. 

We spent two weeks in Naples and about the same time in 
Rome, and two more industrious people you never saw. We 
penetrated the depths of the catacombs, and climbed to the very 
edge of the crater of Vesuvius, and did all sorts of things which 
travelers are expected to do in that country. The weather was 
delightful during the entire two months — only one rainy day, and 
even that did not keep us indoors. 

I feel now that my mission as a "tourist" is substantially ended,, 
and I want to go home and be at work again. I shall go to Lon- 
don in about a week or ten days, and probably remain in England 
during the month of May. 

I saw our friend Gov. Hendricks day before yesterday. He 
sails to-morrow for New York. He seems to be laboring under 
what my old colleague, Col, Aldrich, used to call "a mental hallu- 
cination of the mind" which inspires him with a belief that the 
Democracy will win at the next election. Are you afflicted in the 
same way still? 

Who are you going to nominate, and who are we going to 
elect? These may be hard questions, but you are good at con- 



256 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

undrums. From all I can see in the papers I should say that 
Blaine's friends are most active in our party. Logan's boom does 
not seem to have a very healthy growth. Your people keep very 
quiet, but I suspect there is a good deal going on beneath the 
surface. The tariff seems to be troubling the Democracy a little 
just now, but I have great faith in their combining capacity. 

I have seen about enough of the Old World for the present, 
and shall be very happy to get back to a live country where the 
people speak the English language even if they do not always tell 
the truth in political matters. I am thoroughly rested and feel a 
good deal more like working than playing, but I have no desire 
to reenter the political field. . . . 

I would give all my interest in Europe for a chat with you 
to-day. The fact is, when I think of you and a few others of my 
good friends, I am homesick. 

A letter from Mr. Davis seems to have crossed the one 
from Mr. Windom. Writing again from Paris under 
date of May 12, Mr. Windom acknowledged this letter, 
and, after discussing business matters of mutual interest, 
referred to the business uncertainty in the United States 
and the effect in England. He also wrote with his cus- 
tomary freedom regarding politics : 

The recent conspicuous failures in America have so alarmed 
everybody on this side that it is quite impossible just now to do 
anything with American enterprises. Money is very plenty and 
very cheap, but confidence seems to be entirely destroyed. I 
know of a large loan in London at the rate of one half of one 
per cent, per annum simply because no one is willing to invest in 
anything. What are we coming to at home? Is the bottom 
falling out entirely? From this distance it looks as if we are to 
have a grand smash-up. 

I read the New York newspapers quite regularly, but I do not 
see the way out of the present tangle in either political party. 
The abuse of our friend Blaine is outrageous and ought to make 
him hosts of friends. When I saw the caricature in Puck posted 
on the Strand in London the other day, I felt like taking the next 
steamer for home to go to work for Blaine. I refer to the "Dime 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 257 

Show," in which B, is represented as the "tatooed man." I hope 
he will prosecute the scoundrels who got it up. 

I do not venture any prophecy as to who will be the nominees 
on our side. Blaine seems to be the strongest, as usual, but the 
rest will probably combine against him. I believe your party will 
nominate Tilden if he can be "held together" until the convention 
meets. 

Incidental glimpses of political affairs are afforded in 
various letters from public men with whom Mr. Davis 
was on friendly terms without their relations being in- 
timate. Samuel J. Randall wrote him from his home in 
Pennsylvania during the Congressional campaign of 
1882, referring apparently to the necessity of getting two 
candidates to forego their rival candidacies within the 
party : 

You can do more than any other man to bring peace. Excuse 
my troubling you ; it is for our cause. ... I had a visit a day 
or two ago from Honorable James Hagerman of Keokuk, Iowa, 
who gives an encouraging account of that State as to Congres- 
sional candidates in five or six districts. He needed and asked 
only encouragement. I favor such an invasion where our enemy 
does not expect us. Atkins' speech is able and ought to be circu- 
lated, and also to be in the hands of every speaker. Read it. 

Augustus H. Garland of Arkansas, who became At- 
torney-General in President Cleveland's administration, 
had served with Mr. Davis in the Senate and had been 
in sympathy with his conservative views on various sub- 
jects. After the Chicago Convention in July, 1884, he 
wrote a brief note : 

Dear Uncle Henry: 

After the good glorious work at Chicago in which you cut no 
small figure, I feel compelled to drop you a word or two. When 
I saw your name on the Committee on Platform I was satisfied 
we would have a liberal, conservative document, and I was not 



258 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

disappointed. Everything starts admirably and I feel satisfied 
we will win. If we do not now I fear we never will. 

Mr. Davis's position as the political chief of his party 
in West Virginia for so many years naturally resulted 
in a very large volume of correspondence with political 
leaders and lieutenants in the State. But not all of it 
was of a partizan character or came from members of 
his own party. Nathan Goff, Jr., with whom he had 
served in the Legislature, on retiring from the office of 
United States District Attorney, in June, 1882, wrote 
him: 

I desire to thank you for your uniform and continued kindness 
to me in official, business, and social matters. ... It is hard to 
sever pleasant official relations, and it has been hard for me to 
conclude to do so ; but my personal affairs and the business inter- 
ests of my family require it, and to it and them I yield. 

Will you hand this to Senator Camden to read, and assure him 
that I remember and appreciate his kindness to me. Both of you 
have been kind to me at times and under circumstances when it 
was not only pleasant but most beneficial to me, and I shall ever 
treasure the memory of it and be grateful. 

A year later, when Senator Davis had announced his 
intention to retire from the United States Senate, the 
news was received with regret by another Goff, a political 
opponent, but also a personal friend. This was the 
venerable Nathan Goff, Sr., the uncle of the foregoing 
writer, who had been Mr. Davis's mentor when he first 
entered the West Virginia Assembly. Writing from 
Clarksburg, under date of January 10, 1883, in a trem- 
bling hand, and addressing Senator Davis as my "old 
friend," Nathan Goff, Sr., said: 

I am very desirous that you shall again be elected U. S. Senator 
to succeed yourself. I much prefer you to any of the candidates 
mentioned, and I think the good of the State and a majority of its 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 259 

people wish and desire that you shall again be their representative. 
So I hope you will pardon an old friend for the liberty of making 
a suggestion to you. I would say step squarely out and say to 
our Legislature that you will serve them. I am quite feeble; 
some three years ago I had a slight stroke of paralysis and have 
never entirely recovered from it. 

Though in the later years of the career of William L. 
Wilson his path diverged from that of Mr. Davis, they 
had worked together in their party activities, and Mr. 
Wilson was an occasional correspondent of Senator 
Davis. He wrote the Senator from Charlestown, under 
date of September 13, 1880, regarding some rumors that 
were afloat: 

The result at Berkeley Springs explodes the rumor to which I 
called your attention. ... I do not know how things will turn 
out to-morrow ; it will at least show whether there was any bar- 
gain at the Senatorial convention. I shall have the solid support 
of this county if there is no foul play, and am not greatly exercised 
over result anyway. If I am not nominated and the prospects 
are not too encouraging, I hope to do some campaigning with you. 

Nearly a year later, on June 28, 1881, Mr. Wilson 
wrote: 

Dear Senator: 

I see from the Baltimore Sun of yesterday that your little 
railroad is about to enter upon a very wide and ambitious career, 
and I judge from the men enlisted in the enterprise that it means 
business and is something more than the newspaper railroads now 
springing up over our State. I am a firm believer in the unde- 
veloped resources of West Virginia, and that those who have the 
money and sagacity to develop them will not fail of immense re- 
turns ; and so ever since reading the notice in the Sun I have been 
thinking that perhaps in your projected enterprise I might some- 
where find an opening to better my fortunes and at the same time 
§erve some useful purpose in the work, 



26o HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 

When Mr. Wilson became president of the West Vir- 
ginia University at Morgantown, Senator Davis wrote 
asking him to recommend a young man who could serve 
as a secretary and instructor. This Mr. Wilson did in 
a most kindly letter, explaining that the young man he 
recommended was one of the many at the University who 
were struggling to get a good education through diffi- 
culties and to whom the compensation would be a great 
lift. 

In the campaign of 1886 a number of letters were ex- 
changed between Mr. Davis and Mr. Wilson, who was 
then in the House of Representatives. From Charles- 
town, under date of September 30, Mr. Wilson wrote : 

My dear Senator: 

I am just about to start for Moorefield by buggy ; am sorry you 
cannot be with me. I am anxious for you to make your speech 
and publish it as a campaign document. Berkeley court is Octo- 
ber 1 2th, and I have written Parks, chairman of the County Com- 
mittee, suggesting that he have you there on that day. Possibly 
also Kenna will be there, or send someone from Washington. 
You can be of great service to me in Tucker County, I expect. I 
want to visit both Elk Garden and Davis before the election. We 
must have you at Charlestown during the canvass. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

MORE LETTERS 

Benjamin Harrison's request for advice on investments — 
Grover Cleveland's explanation of a misunderstanding — Senator 
Gorman on prospects and results in 1904 — Thomas F. Bayard's 
illuminating correspondence — Spoils system responsible for Gar- 
field's assassination — Views on his own campaign for the nom- 
ination in 1884 — Tilden and the rise of the literary bureau — 
Maintenance of principles — Manly comment on the Chicago Con- 
vention — Abhorrence of Benjamin F. Butler's labor movement — 
Tribute to Mr. Davis's work in developing West Virginia's re- 
sources — The last letter — Some piquant notes from Andrew Car- 
negie. 

BENJAMIN HARRISON was an occasional cor- 
respondent of Mr. Davis. He, however, pre- 
ferred personal conference to letter-writing 
when public affairs were to be considered, although in a 
few instances after his retirement from the Presidency 
he wrote his views confidentially on current topics with 
considerable freedom. But the majority of the letters 
relate to personal or business affairs. A characteristic 
note was one sent from Indianapolis in June, 1883, in 
relation to an expected visit from Senator and Mrs. 
Davis. It exhibits the warm side of General Harrison's 
nature : 

Yours of the 8th instant came this morning. We are all very 
pleased to hear that you and Mrs. D. can give us the long-promised 
visit. We are all at home ; have got through house-cleaning and 
are in an attitude of waiting for you. So come and bring Katie 
along too ; — plenty of room. Let me know when you will arrive. 

261 



262 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

General Harrison's confidence in the business judg- 
ment of Mr. Davis was profound, and he sought the 
Senator's advice on investments of which he confessed 
himself a poor judge. It was at his own insistence that 
the investment was made for him in Senator Davis's 
principal railway enterprise. From the correspondence, 
Mr. Davis apparently hesitated to take the responsibil- 
ity of suggesting his own properties, and a check for- 
warded from Indianapolis by General Harrison was re- 
turned; but ultimately the investment was made as re- 
quested. Writing from Indianapolis on January 19, 
1895, General Harrison said: 

My dear Senator: 

I wrote to Elkins some time ago asking him whether the new 
railroad was making any progress and when you would have your 
securities ready, but have not heard from him. I suppose he has 
been so much absorbed in the Senatorial contest — which I see is 
practically ended in his favor — that he has not had time to write. 
A paragraph which came to my notice indicates that your organi- 
zation has been effected, and that the older companies have in- 
dorsed the bonds of the new company. I have something more 
than twenty thousand dollars on hand, and have been seeking an 
investment for it. If your securities are not to be issued soon I 
will make some temporary use of the money so as to get some 
interest on it, but if they are I will be glad to take the thirty 
thousand dollars* worth of your bonds as you suggested. The 
balance of the money I can probably pay before long. 

General Harrison's satisfaction with the transaction 
as arranged for him by Mr. Davis was indicated in an- 
other letter from Indianapolis under date of January 26: 

My dear Senator: 

Your letter of the 22d came last week, and was forwarded to me 
at Richmond, where I have been engaged for a month in the 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 263 

trial of an important will case, which promises to hold on for an- 
other month, much to my dismay ; as I did not contemplate a trial 
that would last over a month. I have concluded to take the West 
Virginia bonds which you offer, and inclose you S. A. Fletcher & 
Co.'s draft on N. Y. to my order, indorsed to you, for twenty 
thousand ($20,000) dollars. 

I can arrange with you the matter of any accumulated interest 
on the bonds, if you will state the account to me. This check 
represents all that I can spare from my account just now; and 
while it does not pay for an even number of bonds at the price 
you name — 107 — you can so keep the account as to show what my 
investment is. You may just put the bonds up in an envelope 
with an indorsement that they belong to me, and keep them in 
your safety deposit vault. It will hardly be worth while to send 
them out here, if they are likely to be exchanged in the spring for 
the securities of the new road. 

We were all glad to see that Mr. Elkins' election went off so 
harmoniously and unanimously. 

I envy you and the rest your trip to Mexico, as we are having 
extremely changeable weather ; from mildness to zero in less 
than twenty-four hours being a frequent occurrence in the last 
two weeks. When you come to add to this living for two months 
at a poor hotel and spending seven hours and a half a day in the 
court-room, you have a partial picture of my sufferings. 

Mrs. McKee and the children fortunately continue well, and 
join me in kind regards to Mrs. Davis, Kate, and Grace. 

Very sincerely yours, 

Benj. Harrrison. 

President Cleveland occasionally wrote Mr. Davis on 
political matters. A misunderstanding on one occasion, 
when apparently Mr. Davis went to the White House to 
keep an appointment with President Cleveland about 
some political matter and was not received, was cleared 
away in Mr. Davis's usual direct manner by asking for 
an explanation. The incident is indicated in an auto- 
graph letter from Mr. Cleveland : 



264 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Executive Mansion, Washington, 

June 4, 1887. 
My dear Sir: 

Colonel Lamont surprised me very much to-day by telling me 
the purport of your conversation with him. I think it is the first 
instance of the kind ever presented to me, and I feel especially an- 
noyed that it should relate to you, whose kindness and friendship 
has been so marked and constant. 

I am often perplexed and often overwhelmed with visitors, 
sometimes engaged with public business which cannot be post- 
poned or interrupted, but the circumstances would be very un- 
usual which would prevent me from seeing you. I am afraid the 
matter to which you have referred has occurred through my over- 
sight or inadvertence at a time when I was unusually vexed and 
troubled with other matters. I certainly have no remembrance 
of the occasion. 

I hope I need not say to you that I am at all times glad to see 
you, and that I should be very much grieved if you should think 
otherwise. 

I hope you will call the next time you are in the city. We often 
recalled our stay at Deer Park during the anniversary time of 
our marriage, and with it we recalled your kindness too. 

Yours sincerely, 

Grover Cleveland. 
Hon. Henry G. Davis, 
Baltimore, Md. 

A penciled memorandum on Mr. Cleveland's letter in 
the handwriting of Mr. Davis notes that he answered 
saying he highly appreciated the communication. 

Among the hundreds of letters from his kinsman, 
Arthur Pue Gorman, two may be quoted which relate to 
comparatively recent political events. They give a con- 
temporary view of the national campaign in which Mr. 
Davis was the candidate for Vice-President. One was 
written just before the election and the other just 
after it. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 265 

Fifth Avenue Hotel, 
Madison Square, New York. 

Nov. 2, 1904. 
My dear Friend: 

I received your letter upon my arrival here last night and note 
all you say about West Virginia. . . . You have no idea as to the 
confidence of Judge Parker and Mr. Sheahan in the outcome. 
They have absolutely no question about New York, and New 
Jersey, but they think Connecticut can also be carried. Alto- 
gether they are in a very hopeful mood, and we certainly have 
the Republicans on the defensive, the current running strongly in 
our favor. My own judgment is that we will poll our full 
vote, and it looks as if we will be great gainers by the dissatisfac- 
tion in the Republican party. 

I want to congratulate you upon the wonderful contest you have 
made. I hear from mutual friends you have not overtaxed your- 
self and are quite well. I trust you will come out of it in the 
best condition. 

Writing a week later, Senator Gorman said: 

I confess the result is a very great surprise to me, as it is to 
everybody who watched the contest. 

However, it is all over, and the immense majority against us 
all along the line shows the American people have determined 
that the President shall have another term. On the surface it 
looked as if our party were united, but it is evident it is not so 
with the rank and file. 

Disagreeable as the result is, I know you well enough to know 
you will accept it without worry, as you do everything. You 
made a grand, indeed memorable, fight for our party, but the odds 
were too great to be overcome. 

Something of the intimacy between Henry G. Davis 
and Thomas F. Bayard has been told in the preceding 
pages. The correspondence extending through more 
than a quarter of a century is further evidence of it. 
Mr. Bayard wrote freely on business and on personal and 
political matters. Some of his letters are vitally illu^ 



266 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

trative of his own high character and his lofty convic- 
tions. Writing on July 3, 1881, concerning a proposed 
visit to West Virginia, and referring to a previous letter, 
Mr. Bayard said: 

I write under the shock and depression caused by the wild and 
wicked attempt to murder the President. . . . This assault upon 
Garfield shocks me, and it really appears to be the natural results 
of the demoralizing and corrupting influence of the "spoils" sys- 
tem of machine politics. The letters of the assassin are like those 
of a Russian nihilist, and something heretofore unheard of in 
America. 

May Heaven avert the evil results which the death of Garfield 
would expose our country to. The consequences of turning over 
the executive powers to the wing of the party who have been at 
such bitter variance with the administration loom up darkly on 
every side. 

As I write (3 p. m. Sunday) bulletins are more encouraging. 

A sensational political episode was briefly adverted to 
by Mr. Bayard in a letter from Wilmington dated April 
22, 1883. The occasion was a dinner given by the Iro- 
quois Club of Chicago, the leading Democratic organiza- 
tion of the West, at which Mr. Bayard was the principal 
speaker. In the morning hours Mayor Carter Harrison, 
in responding to a toast, took occasion to controvert the 
tariff views which Mr. Bayard had expressed and to 
declare the Democratic party could not carry the country 
on such a platform. Mayor Harrison was a very force- 
ful personality with an unexcelled faculty for securing 
publicity. At that period he filled as much space in the 
newspapers as did the President of the United States. 
Mr. Bayard wrote of this incident to Senator Davis: 

I had hoped to have seen you and told you about Chicago. I 
think the Iroquois Club dinner was a success, although it seems 
to have disagreed with our Republican friends and their news- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 267 

papers. In fact, we can hardly be said to have any general Dem- 
ocratic press in the United States. Here and there is a Dem- 
ocratic newspaper, but in Chicago, for instance, there is none. 
The Chicago Times, which is not a Republican organ, is as little a 
Democratic organ, and perhaps injures us more than if it was an 
avowed Republican. Carter Harrison, the Mayor, made a silly 
and very uncivil harangue at the end of the dinner, which mystified 
our hosts. It was seized upon by the Republican press and pub- 
lished as a "bombshell," etc., but it amounted to nothing. 

Senator Bayard was an active candidate for the Presi- 
dential nomination in 1884. His friends were well or- 
ganized, but the Tilden influence was hostile. A reverse 
in the preliminary campaign in West Virginia brought 
forth a notable letter on political methods — the literary 
bureau — that have since become common. 

Referring to the inability of Mr. Davis to secure the 
West Virginia delegation for him, Senator Bayard wrote 
from the Senate chamber under date of April 9, 1884: 

My dear Dazns: 

I have your note of yesterday informing me that the local con- 
ventions in West Virginia had declared in favor of Mr. Tilden's 
nomination at Chicago. I had seen the statement in the New 
York Times a day or two previous. 

Do not, my good friend, let this action disturb you — at least not 
on my account. We ought, as sensible men, to accept the situa- 
tion, and if, from any cause or number of causes, a genuine sen- 
timent pervades our party in favor of nominating the "old ticket" ; 
it will control the convention, and / for one shall not obstruct it. 

It is perfectly clear also that Mr. Tilden has not as yet objected 
to it, whatever he may have done to promote it. No such per- 
sonal organization ever existed in this country as that which he 
carefully and elaborately has built up since his canvass for the 
office of Governor of New York until now. His "literary 
bureau" I believe is still maintained, and I do not care to give an 
accurate definition of that, but it results in a purchased and paid- 
for expression in favor of the owner of the bureau. 



268 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Now, my good friend, you know how entirely outside of my 
capacity or personal methods is such a system. I have no reliance 
upon anything to give me high office but the belief of my country- 
men that I have the wish and the ability to serve them intelligently 
and faithfully. 

To represent a party animated and controlled by such beliefs 
and such objects would be an honor that no man would value more 
highly than I, and even in defeat there would be the solace of 
self-respect. Really I do not want, nor can I logically or reason- 
ably expect, to receive a nomination at the hands of a set of dele- 
gates who, looking the facts of the present and the history of the 
near past squarely in the face, approve of the nomination of Mr. 
Tilden, or to place the nomination subject to his wishes either 
to accept it for himself or control it in favor of anyone he de- 
sires. 

I am unable to believe that Mr. Tilden's physical condition ren- 
ders it possible for him even to contemplate the assumption of the 
labor of a canvass, much less the duties of the Chief Magistrate. 
Unless I am wholly mistaken, he is too feeble in health to under- 
take labor of any kind. 

Therefore, the movement to send delegates to nominate him is 
in fact a mere cover to nominate someone to be approved by him. 
It would be a Tilden convention, and it seems to me that logically 
none but Tilden men ought to have their names placed before it. 

For one, I am sure I do not and would not justly represent such 
a convention in the wishes and opinion of those who selected and 
sent them there, and there-fore my name ought not to be placed 
before them. 

Profession, promises, and platform all depend in the end upon 
the personal character of the individual chosen to represent and 
carry them into execution. 

I expect to go along as you have heretofore seen me, trying 
hard to find out the paths of honor and prosperity to our country 
and to point them out to our countrymen. This has gained me 
the confidence and good will of men like you, and as I value that 
I shall endeavor to retain it. 

As the Democratic National Convention drew near, 
Senator Bayard wrote to Mr. Davis freely and fre- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 269 

quently concerning his prospects. From the Senate 
chamber on June 19 he wrote : 

On Monday we will meet at my house at dinner and have a free 
conference. I have written to Travers, and McPherson goes to 
New York to-day and will learn how matters stand there. What 
the result of the Saratoga Convention really is I do not presume 
to know, but I can see a restoration of ancient forces in the 
presence of Belmont, Travers, and Kelly to delegateships. Hew- 
itt met me to-day (he is a delegate) and told me he would make 
me President of the United States in preference to any living man. 
(Whether he would say so an hour hence is doubtful.) 

Gorman is coming on Monday. 

Writing under date of June 27, Senator Bayard said: 

Gorman told me all about New York, which is a curious pool 
for me to be fishing in, and I feel it quite impossible to prognosti- 
cate anything of the results. 

I confess it made my flesh creep to know that you and Mc- 
Pherson had been in consultation with Butler, of whom I enter- 
tain the most profound distrust and constant apprehension. Of 
course, I know a great party must contain all kind of elements, 
and there is no use in driving those you disapprove into oppo- 
sition, but the fact remains that principles must be maintained and 
not departed from under the name of pretense of an alliance with 
the foes of principle. 

Now as to the selection of a delegate to present name to the 
convention. You suggest Judge Thurman, and I need not say 
how delighted and honored I would be to have him do it, but I 
can scarcely think it practicable under the circumstances, nor do I 
suppose with his relations to McDonald he would be disposed to 
go for an "eastern man," nor do I know how my old friend re- 
gards my promotion to a position which perhaps he still may 
himself aspire. Now, let me say that it had been suggested to 
me that Governor Leon Abbett of New Jersey would be a 
proper person to present my name. Jersey is a northern State 
and a tariff State, and one of the doubtful States. Think this 
over, and write me at once your views. 



270 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Senator Bayard's comment on the result at Chicago, 
while tinged with some asperity, was a manly recognition 
of the loyalty of those who had supported him. He 
wrote to Mr. Davis from Wilmington on July i8, 1884: 

My dear Dazns: 

Our "beaten troops" have all returned from Chicago, and I 
have many accounts of the incidents and workings of that strange 
body of our countrymen called the Democratic Convention. Like 
all such assemblies, there was a great deal to make me think better 
and some things to make me think worse of human nature. 

To me there was a great deal to gratify in the conduct of my 
friends, those upon whom I relied and who have only endeared 
themselves more than ever to me by their staunch and generous 
advocacy, and among them you stand. I am quite conscious that 
my share of praise is beyond my merits, and my ambition is to be 
really worthy of the place assigned me in our party councils and 
the estimation of the country. Some day when we are quietly 
together you will explain to me some things about the Maryland 
delegation, and Gorman will also, I doubt not. I had come to 
regard Maryland the same as Delaware — perhaps without war- 
rant — and yet I believe that before the people of both States I 
have the same position. 

I hope we will prove to have been mistaken in our estimate of 
the defection from Cleveland in New York. It is too early yet to 
descry the movement of the currents of popular feeling. Some 
strange novelties appear, and to find Harper's Weekly, the New 
York Times, the Evening Post, the New York Herald, etc., all 
aiding the Democratic nominee is enough to make a man stare. 

Certain it is that new political forces are at work, and some of 
them dangerous. Butler's organization of the "labor vote" is a 
dangerous and demagogical movement, for the laboring classes 
(so-called) have surely no such wrongs as yet in this country as 
to justify a separate organization. How many Presidents have 
we had who were men of inherited fortune? How many Cabinet 
ministers, how many men in the Senate to-day, have worked with 
their hands for a living! How many millionaires have we who 
did not spring from poverty? You see how unjust in this coun- 
try is the separate and hostile array of laboring men. 



I 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 271 

The man for whom I feel just now is our friend McDonald. 
I do not think Indiana was faithful to him — but, but — when we 
meet we will talk it all over. 

During the progress of the campaign Senator Bayard 
frequently wrote Mr. Davis. One of the letters is es- 
pecially interesting as reiterating his views of General 
Benjamin F. Butler. On August 27 he wrote from Wil- 
mington : 

There are so many new elements in the canvass that it is hard 
to foretell their relative force. My judgment of Butler and the 
danger of having anything to do with him — except to put him to 
death — has had ample confirmation. 

The canvass drags on both sides, but will be hot enough ere 
long. I think I will speak in Brooklyn on the 15th of September. 

What may happen in New York I cannot say, but elsew-here 
I do not think Blaine will make any serious inroad in the Irish 
vote and will lose heavily with the German vote. The Independ- 
ents attack him with a bitterness quite unknown to the Democrats. 
Regards to Gorman. 

The intimate personal correspondence of the two 
friends would make a large volume. Innumerable let- 
ters are filled with graceful tributes from Senator Bay- 
ard to the lifework of Mr. Davis. After one of his 
many trips through the region traversed by the West 
Virginia Central Railway he wrote from Wilmington, 
under date of June 23, 1890: 

My dear Davis: 

I enjoyed the trip over your road immensely, and feel well 
satisfied with my small pecuniary interest in that region of in- 
dustry and growing wealth. I must congratulate you upon the 
monument to your energy and far-sighted enterprise and intelli- 
gence which the West Virginia Central and the whole region 
it penetrates constitute. 

It is a just cause of pride to you, and will be to your children, 
that you have let the sunlight of civilization and prosperity in upon 



272 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

a region so secluded by its rugged natural features. May you 
fully enjoy the fruition of your labors. 

When the autumn comes I shall try to let Mrs. Bayard see the 
West Virginia Central in the glory of the change of leaves, and 
will write you. 

A New Year's letter from Mr. Bayard, penned a few 
months before his own death, is a fitting tribute with 
which to close the story of the deep friendship of these 
two men : 

Wilmington, Del., 

January i, 1898, 
My dear Henry Daiuis: 

I was very glad to get your kind note of yesterday with a pass 
over the lines of the West Va. Central for 1898 for me and Mrs. 
Bayard. 

I have always been desirous that she should see the beautiful 
region your enterprise has so developed, and I am personally de- 
sirous of noting your progress since I was last in your territories. 

The death of a dear sister clouds the entry of the New Year, 
and just now I am a prisoner in the house with a bad cold. 

I hope you are a little more conservative of your fine physical 
powers and are learning a little how to play. 

As a Christmas card I send you a verse by one of our country- 
men, Whittier, which will please Mrs. Davis quite as much as you. 

When I am next in Washington I shall hope to see you, pro- 
vided you hold still long enough. 

Wishing you a Happy New Year. 

Sincerely yours, 

T. F. Bayard. 
Hon. Henry G. Davis, 

Washington. 

Andrew Carnegie was a regular correspondent of Mr. 
Davis, not only in connection with the Pan-American 
Railway, but also in reference to other subjects. His 
crisp and concise letters would make a vest pocket edition 
of piquant comment. When he was appointed a delegate 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 273 

to the Second Pan-American Conference at Mexico, in 
sequence to his membership in the First Conference at 
Washington in which he and Mr. Davis had been col- 
leagues, under date of March 8, 1902, he wrote from 
New York: 

My dear Mr. Davis: 

Notice of my appointment duly received and acceptance mailed. 
Shall be glad to be of service with you in the great work. Sorry 
that I am so busy these days that I am not able to accept your 
kind invitation to visit Washington. We are sailing soon for our 
summer holiday. Tell Senator Elkins hope to see him and his at 
Skibo this summer. 

In later years came a crisp note from Dungenness : 

Dear Mr. Chairman: 

Here on Lister Island three generations of Carnegies and I 
head the family. 

We leave to-day for Hot Springs, Arkansas. Madam has need 
to take the cure for the first time. Shall reach New York say 
April 1st and let you know when I can get to meeting. 

Long life to you, grand old man. 

It was well known that Mr. Carnegie in his benefac- 
tions excluded gifts to denominational institutions. This, 
however, did not prevent Mr. Davis from laying before 
him the claims of the West Virginia Institution to which 
he and Senator Elkins had contributed so liberally and 
which he had endowed. The answer was characterist- 
ically brief and frank. Mr. Carnegie wrote from New 
York on December 4, 191 1 : 

My dear Friend: 

I am so glad to hear from you, venerable sage. 

I must give you the rare opportunity of taking that Presb)^erian 
College under your sole control. I would not rob you of the 
privilege for the world. 

It is a rule which I shall never break ; viz., I will support no 



274 HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 

educational institution which favors one sect or discriminates 
against other sects. Education should be undenominational, all 
religions and creeds on equal footing. 

Happy to see you in Washington when I am there for a few 

days. 

Very truly yours, 

Andrew Carnegie. 



CHAPTER XIX 

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 

Mr. Davis's journal as an illustration of his character — Intimate 
record of half a century — The observant traveler at home and 
abroad — European trip — Shrewd reflections on the Southern 
States — Mexico and California — Personal thrift and business 
liberality — Passion for order and detail — Faculty of concentration 
— Making a bargain — High standard of integrity — Dislike of 
speculation — In all things an individualist — Austere home life 
mellowed — Favorite documents of American history — Fondness 
for biography — Material for speeches — Nature's physical endow- 
ment — Horseback rider at ninety — Capacity for sleep — Religious 
convictions. 

THE intimate story of Henry G. Davis's life for 
half a century has been told by himself. This is 
not in the form of an autobiography or of a 
sketch prepared by him, nor was the story told for a 
moralizing purpose. It contains no meditations with sly 
thoughts of posterity's comment. It simply grew out of 
one of his leading characteristics, which was the love of 
order and the desire to have before him the record of 
current events and of his own activities. For nearly 
fifty years he kept a journal in which he entered the 
things that most concerned him or that at the time made 
the strongest impression on him. 

This journal in reality is the record of his associa- 
tions as well as of his own work from year to year. It 
is comprised in a single volume, a large business ledger 
bound in sheepskin and filled from beginning to end with 

275 



276 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

his notes. It commences In the spring of 1867, when he 
moved to Deer Park for the summer, and it ends a short 
time before his death in Washington, in February, 1916. 
There are some scattering records of his earHer years, 
but the memorandum books of those years, to which he 
sometimes refers, unfortunately have been lost. 

Much that has been written in the account of his life 
and times that this volume comprises is drawn from the 
journal, as has been made clear by the frequent quota- 
tions from it, but it has to be studied from cover to cover 
to exhibit fully the qualities that made him a successful 
railway builder and organizer of industry as well as man 
of public affairs. 

The entries relate to his prospecting trips among coal 
and timber lands, to family matters of an intimate char- 
acter, to social intercourse, to political events, to inter- 
views with railway officials and financiers of his own 
type, with occasional comment, never of an unkindly na- 
ture, on his contemporaries. In the later years there are 
numerous newspaper clippings, especially in connection 
with politics and the business enterprises in which he 
was concerned. His impressions are recorded spontane- 
ously, but with many shrewd reflections. The weather 
is frequently noted, but the notation is that of the farmer, 
the lumberman, the railway builder, or the contractor, 
for whom meteorological conditions have a definite 
meaning. 

The faculty of observation that Mr. Davis possessed 
doubtless has been apparent to the reader of these pages. 
It helped to supply the deficiency of his early education. 
His was the schooling that comes from observation, from 
association with workingmen, men of business, states- 
men, and diplomatists, and from meeting and overcom- 
ing difficulties. It was an education that made his judg- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS -2^7 

ment sought and respected in great business enterprises, 
in political management, and in public affairs. 

The faculty of seeing intelligently was especially 
shown in his various journeys. He was the observant 
traveler in whatever place he found himself, on horse- 
back or on foot in the primeval forests of the Alle- 
ghanies ; in Europe ; making a hasty trip to Cuba or Ber- 
muda or Mexico; crossing the continent; journeying as 
a member of a senatorial committee or traveling with his 
family for recreation. Wherever he was he saw all that 
the ordinary traveler saw and much more. 

In the spring of 1873, when Senator Davis went to 
California with his daughter Hallie, after noting the 
many buffalo, antelope, and prairie-dogs on the plains, 
he also notes seeing "one wolf." Denver he found a 
promising place, but he was "only tolerably well pleased" 
with San Francisco and the country around it. The 
same observation was made about Salt Lake City. Like 
all travelers, he went to the Mormon Tabernacle on 
Sunday. His visit was before the enactment of anti- 
polygamy laws, and he remarks that some Mormons have 
twenty wives, others one, two, three, and so on. 

In the summer of 1878, as a relief from senatorial 
duties, he made a trip to Europe in company with his 
daughter Kate, his colleague Senator Camden, and Sen- 
ator Camden's daughters, Annie and Jessie. The party 
spent four days in Ireland visiting Blarney Castle, Kil- 
larney, and Dublin. Then they went to Scotland and 
London, and from London to Paris, where they visited 
the Exposition. Switzerland, the Rhine, and Belgium 
also were visited. This itinerary is recorded in his 
journal with an occasional observation but apparently he 
was taking full notes all the time, for he remarks: "For 
full account of trip see memorandum books." 



278 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

When the Senate Committee on Transportation visited 
various parts of the country he made copious entries in 
his journal, most of them relating to the subject of the 
inquiry and therefore including observations of trade 
and industry. While in New Orleans he recorded this 
impression : 

I am pleased with the country in Louisiana, but much of the 
southern country and States are going to waste. Taxes in New 
Orleans are $5.12 on the $100, and in the county $4.75. No 
people can stand this long. 

In the midwinter of 1884, with Mrs. Davis, he took a 
trip to Florida and Louisiana. His impressions of the 
towns and of the country were given in brief entries in 
the journal. He found Charleston, South Carolina, 
"quite an old town, fairly built, and looking tolerably 
prosperous." The many cotton-fields on the road from 
Charleston to Jacksonville were noted, with the observa- 
tion also that the oranges were still hanging upon the 
trees. Proceeding to New Orleans by way of Tallahas- 
see, he remarked that the country was mostly sandy and 
poor. Of New Orleans on this second visit he briefly 
remarks : "City has a business appearance. Theaters 
and many stores are open on Sunday." Returning 
North, he commented on the coal and iron in Alabama, 
and added that Birmingham was a very thriving place 
which had grown very rapidly. Nashville, Tennessee, 
he described as a growing town with a fine country 
around it, and the country between Nashville and Louis- 
ville was also referred to as "fine." 

Mr. Davis, accompanied by members of his family, 
visited the World's Fair in Chicago in midsummer, 1893. 
His comment was brief but comprehensive : "The Fair 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 279 

is very large, and is a wonderful exhibit of the United 
States and the world." 

In the early spring of 1894, with Mrs. Davis and other 
members of the family, he made a flying trip to Havana 
by way of Florida, but he did not record his impressions 
of Cuba under Spanish rule, as it then was. 

In the spring of 1895 he visited Mexico City and Cali- 
fornia, chiefly for business purposes. While in Mexico 
he was received by President Diaz, who treated him with 
much consideration. He expressed some annoyance at 
the attention shown him. The President had detailed 
an army officer to accompany their party, and this officer 
performed his duty with military fidelity, while Mr. 
Davis wanted to get away by himself at times and take 
a look around, as he phrased it. 

In 1897 he went to Bermuda from New York, record- 
ing that the trip was rough and that he was seasick all 
the way. The visit, however, was an enjoyable one. 
The attractiveness of Bermuda was thus summed up: 
"Climate in March about our early June. Nearly every- 
thing is white." 

In his other travels, sometimes for recreation, some- 
times for business, and not infrequently combining both, 
he never failed to make notes; but it would be difficult 
to trace in these notes anything that could be attributed 
to the standard guide-books. His observations were as 
original as they were pointed. 

Mr. Davis had few idiosyncrasies or peculiarities, but 
such as they were they bore the impress of a strong per- 
sonality. The hardships of his early life, and the priva- 
tions that followed the reversion of the family from com- 
fort and wealth to poverty, left a deep impression on his 
character. Besides this there was an innate aversion to 



28o THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

waste and an appreciation of the real meaning of econ- 
omy. He had learned to practise thrift from necessity, 
but he would have been saving in any circumstances be- 
cause thriftiness was the basis on which to build. 

In his personal habits through all his long life he was 
simplicity itself. His wants were few and were easily 
satisfied. In making a small purchase or providing for 
some slight need, he would exercise the same care that he 
had found it necessary to bestow when dollars were very 
scarce and hard to get. These habits were not eccen- 
tricities; they were simply the reflex of a principle. 
Some of them were too superficial to be worthy of men- 
tion. If there were good reason for being generous he 
did not hesitate to show liberality, but the liberality that 
is quite distinct from prodigality. 

In the same way, while all his life he exhorted to econ- 
omy, he distinguished it from parsimony. His subor- 
dinates in the management of his properties were fre- 
quently told, sometimes sharply, that they must exercise 
greater economy, but where there was a real need of 
liberal expenditures they had only to show it and they 
were allowed to go ahead. In public affairs, and the 
administration of government, economy naturally was 
one of Mr. Davis's favorite themes, and in particular he 
held the opposition party to strict account for expendi- 
tures. But when he came to exercise his functions as a 
legislator he never was parsimonious toward the Gov- 
ernment. 

In his business affairs he would weigh every expense 
carefully, even to the cost of a short trip, but he would 
not hesitate to close a million-dollar transaction over- 
night as the result of such a journey. In his private and 
family life there was no trace of undue economy, yet 
there was no extravagance. Disliking display and osten- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 281 

tation, he always maintained his household on a scale 
befitting his own position and his hospitable inclinations. 
It was a generous hospitality, for he was not ashamed to 
be known as a rich man. 

Witness an illustration of his activities when he was in 
his seventy-fifth year as given in his journal : 

Sept. 10, 1898. I am quite busy arranging to open mine at 
Simpson. Call New York Coal Co. 

Also building or extending road (W. Va. Central) from Beverly 
to Huttonsville, 

An important element in Mr. Davis's character which 
had much to do with his success was the faculty of con- 
centrating his energies upon the work in hand and his 
ability to dismiss business cares from his mind when 
the time came for recreation. Whatever he had to do, 
whether it was working on a farm, running a railway 
train, framing an appropriation bill, drawing up a re- 
port for an international conference, or managing a rail- 
way or a coal company, he always was able to concentrate 
his attention and his energies on the one subject. He 
always wanted to have as much as possible of his work 
carried out under his own eyes. 

A leading trait in Mr. Davis's business methods was 
his love of order. This was inherent. In his personal 
habits the practices of his early boyhood, which had 
been taught him by his mother, were followed, even to 
carefully laying out his towel to dry. Everything he 
did was methodical. His explorations of lumber and 
coal lands were never taken at haphazard. The full de- 
tails of these inspections and investigations, written 
down by himself at the time and afterward entered in his 
journal, always could be used to refresh his mind and 
undoubtedly were of great valuie to him. Having made 



282 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

a thorough study of the resources of a given region, 
having gone over it on foot or on horseback, he was then 
in a position to go forward with his plans. It was con- 
fidence in his knowledge that enabled him to interest 
other capitalists in his railway projects. It was suffi- 
cient for them that ''H. G. D." had gone over the ground 
and satisfied himself that there was traffic to be de- 
veloped. 

In dealing with others he always dealt on a business 
basis, and there were few who could excel him in making 
a bargain ; yet no one could complain of unfairness. He 
knew the value of what he had to sell, or of what he 
wanted to buy, and knowing it he laid the foundation for 
the prospective transaction. An incident shows his 
method. Along toward the end of his life he decided to 
dispose of certain timber and coal holdings. The opera- 
tion was a somewhat complicated one. He formulated 
the plan himself, and in giving the outline to his lawyers 
to be put into legal form he remarked : "This is about 
what it will have to be. There may be a few changes 
from what I have put down, but they won't be impor- 
tant." 

The prospective buyers thought otherwise, but after 
months of negotiations the transaction was consummated 
on the lines laid down by Mr. Davis. In concluding it 
there came a business letter from the head of the corpor- 
ation, who years previously had been associated with 
him. The business letter, notwithstanding the rigid 
terms, closed with a word congratulating the writer's 
old principal that his eye had not lost its clearness nor 
his hand its cunning. Mr. Davis was a little doubtful 
about the compliment, but his associates knew it for what 
it was intended, a tribute to sagacity. His correspond- 
ence was the essence of clearness and conciseness. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 283 

Mr. Davis's business morality was of the highest 
standard. He never speculated in his own properties, 
although his enterprises were carried forward during a 
period when this was not considered unethical. Closely 
in touch all his life with Wall Street, its methods made 
no appeal to him, and its standards as practised by some 
of its leaders never received the sanction of his cooper- 
ation. He dealt with the reputable financial leaders 
and was content. 

Every dollar of his fortune which grew out of timber 
and coal lands and railroads was the result of invest- 
ments made after thorough investigation, and for every 
dollar he created for himself wealth was created for en- 
tire communities. While some of his enterprises seemed 
hazardous and doubtless were so, considered as specula- 
tions, there was no hazard in them when considered as 
investments. To him it was simply a question of work- 
ing and waiting, and his foresight and conservatism were 
demonstrated in the comparative ease with which he 
passed through the unsettled conditions. His long busi- 
ness career covered several periods of national panics 
and also of local depressions. Yet there is no evidence 
that he was ever seriously affected by them. 

The panic of 1873 found him engaged in many im- 
portant enterprises requiring considerable capital, but 
it did not find him over-extended. He was able to speak 
from his place in the Senate against inflation during this 
panic, although some of his colleagues, who were men 
of large business affairs, were advocating ''more circu- 
lation medium" doubtless as the unconscious reflection 
of their own dif^culties. 

Mr. Davis's fondness for detail was a passion, yet it 
was a part of his success. Where he knew everything 
so thoroughly, he was the better able to carry out his own 



384 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

ideas. Long before the railways had been compelled by 
the Interstate Commerce Commission to adopt a uniform 
system of bookkeeping, the accounts of his lines were 
thoroughly systematized. Long before manufacturers 
and mining companies had realized that they ought to 
know the cost of production, he had worked out his own 
system under which he knew what it cost him to mine and 
sell coal and coke. Some of the most interesting ex- 
hibits among his papers in the latter period of his busi- 
ness activities are the cost sheets of his railways and his 
mines. 

It sometimes was a question with the railway leaders 
of the country, "Why Davis confined himself to one little 
corner?" Knowing his constructive capacity and his 
grasp of large operations, they wondered that he was 
content to occupy what they looked on as so small a field 
when a whole continent stretched before him. His pas- 
sion for detail doubtless was one reason, since the rail- 
way projector who seeks to span a continent cannot be a 
man of detail. Mr. Davis may have had this feeling 
himself, but back of it was his sense of responsibility. 
He did not, with his high standard of integrity, want to 
be identified with any enterprises that were too big for 
his personal supervision, and he wanted to be tmham- 
pered in carrying out his own ideas. He was essentially 
an individualist. 

In business conferences it was usually remarked by his 
associates that "Davis sat at the head of the table." 
Some of these associates were men of great adroitness 
who would seek results by indirect methods. Some- 
times, too, they would enter a conference with somewhat 
cloudy ideas of what they wanted to accomplish. They 
found that Davis could not be convinced by these meth- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 285 

ods. He must know just what they were aiming at and 
how they were going to achieve their end. 

His own views were always clear. His directness was 
really the reflection of his mental honesty. Because he 
could think only straight he could do things only in a 
straight manner. His judgment was not infallible, but 
usually it was good and deference was paid to it. Like 
all men of native force, he was positive, even obstinate, 
in his opinions, and when he allowed his obstinacy to 
influence his course of action and paid for it, as some- 
times happened, he did not complain or seek to hold 
others responsible for his own mistakes. 

One of the sources of his success was the confidence he 
inspired in his associates and the loyalty he inspired 
among his employees. Few young men who entered his 
employment and showed their worthiness failed to have 
the opportunity of bettering themselves. But it was al- 
ways on the basis of self-help. The young man who had 
enjoyed some responsibility, and who had shown both 
capacity and fidelity, and who could exhibit the results of 
money saved, rarely failed to get the opportunity to make 
a profitable investment. 

In his home life Henry G. Davis was seen at his best. 
Yet until a comparatively late period it was an austere 
home life. He long practised faithfully the Covenant- 
er's Sunday. No work that possibly could be done on 
week-days was allowed to be performed on the Sabbath. 
Even the food was cooked, as far as possible, on Satur- 
day. For many years the horses belonging to the family 
carriage were turned loose Saturday night, not to feel 
the harness again until Monday. Children of the fam- 
ily grown to womanhood and manhood recalled how the 
swings were tied Saturday night, not to be released until 



286 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

Monday. In later years these strict observances grad- 
ually relaxed, and the head of the family even allowed 
himself the recreation of whist and euchre and other en- 
tertainments on week-day evenings. 

Mr. Davis was not a man given to much book reading, 
but he had a very wide fund of information. He read 
the newspapers and magazines discriminately and there 
was seldom a current topic of interest on which he was 
not fully informed. Fiction never appealed to him, be- 
cause he knew it was fiction. "The people in the stories 
are not real," he would sometimes say when urged to in- 
terest himself in a popular novel. "Everything there 
is made up by the folks who write those books." This 
indiflference to fiction continued to the end of his life, and 
it is doubtful if he ever read a novel. 

American history to him unrolled in a few leading 
events and he was never tired of reading them. The 
Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were 
two of the favored documents, but there were other State 
papers. A little volume containing half a dozen of these 
so appealed to him that he presented copies of it to his 
friends. Among them were Washington's Farewell 
Address, the Missouri Compromise and the Compro- 
mises of 1850, the Monroe Doctrine, the Emancipation 
Proclamation, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. 

Mr. Davis was very fond of ancient history and of 
biography. In middle life he read much literature of 
this character himself, but in later years he was wont to 
have some member of the family read to him. Like so 
many men of constructive natures who are educated by 
observation and experience, the great characters in his- 
tory stood out before him as the exemplars of deeds 
rather than of abstract ideas. In his speeches and ad- 
dresses he frequently drew on his knowledge of history. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 287 

When he made his speech on agriculture in the Senate 
in 1879, his copious historical introduction was the fruit 
of his own reading, and in later speeches on the same 
subject he amplified his observations. 

A neat typewritten outline of a speech he made on 
agriculture at Parkersburg in November, 19 10, when he 
was in his eighty-second year, illustrates in a few para- 
graphic quotations his mode of historical thought : 

History informs us that a nation or people that neglects agri- 
culture decays. 

In support of this under the wise policy of Philip of Macedonia 
the country gave great attention to agriculture, and grew rich, 
powerful, and prosperous. 

Alexander neglected agriculture and commenced his conquest 
of the world, and the nation decayed. Carthage grew great and 
happy by attention to agriculture and commerce. 

Hannibal, the great General, abandoned agriculture and com- 
menced a war to conquer other nations, and his country went to 
pieces. 

Rome in the early days, following the example of such farmers 
as Cato, Cincinnatus, and others, gave great attention to agricul- 
ture, and grew to be the greatest and most powerful nation in the 
history of the world. Caesar, Antony, and others caused agricul- 
ture to be neglected and went to war to conquer other nations, and 
Rome declined and was finally blotted out. 

Seventy-five per cent, of the signers of the Declaration of In- 
dependence were agriculturists. 

Four of our great Presidents were farmers — ^Washington, Jef- 
ferson, Jackson, and Lincoln. 

In his reading of history Mr. Davis sometimes found 
illustrations to serve a polemic purpose. In his support 
of Mr. Bryan for President in 1896, he spoke of the 
charge against Bryan on account of his youth, and cited 
these illustrations of young men: 

"Pitt, perhaps the greatest Minister England has ever 
had, was at the head of the English Government before 



288 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

he was thirty. Alexander Hamilton, one of the ablest 
men of this or any other country, was aid and companion 
to Washington at twenty-two, was made Secretary of the 
Treasury at thirty-two. Jefferson wrote the Virginia 
Bill of Rights at thirty, and the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence at thirty-three. Alexander the Great con- 
quered the world at twenty-five. Napoleon, the greatest 
of European generals, ruled France and most of Europe 
at thirty." 

In the preparation of his speeches and addresses, Mr. 
Davis followed the methodical habit that he applied in 
business affairs. Everything was carefully thought out 
in advance, given its proper sequence, and thus noted. 
The outlines of several of these speeches show him as a 
clear thinker and as a shrewd special advocate. Some- 
times the notes served as the basis for remarks of an 
extemporaneous character, later to be embodied in more 
formal language. He was always sure of his facts and 
his statistics were carefully verified. 

An interesting reminder of political activities is an 
outline in his own handwriting of a speech he made in 
1878. Since he was speaking as a Democrat, it might be 
taken for granted that he would vigorously attack the 
Republicans. Among his indictments of the party in 
power is the great increase in the number of office- 
holders. He does not deal in generalities, but gives the 
figures: Buchanan, 44,527; Lincoln, 46,146; Andrew 
Johnson, 56,113; Grant, 102,350. 

Nature had endowed him with a strong constitution. 
Life in the open air, hard work in youth and early man- 
hood, had developed his physical powers. Simple habits 
of living had preserved the stamina with which nature 
endowed him. His vigor was the wonder of his family 
and friends, who had many opportunities of noting his 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 289 

powers of endurance. His fondness for horseback rid- 
ing dated from his boyhood. In the frequent citations 
from his journal the horseback journeys through the 
wilderness are noted. He would spend twelve hours in 
the saddle, and at night, while his young companions 
would be wearied to the point of exhaustion, he would 
show no signs of fatigue. 

At his summer home in Elkins almost daily he would 
mount his favorite horse and ride over the farm and the 
surrounding country. In Washington it was not un- 
usual for those who took their early morning exercise on 
horseback to meet him riding through Rock Creek Park. 
Sometimes his ride was taken later in the day, and the 
chance observer who saw him was apt to remark how 
well he sat his horse. If the same observer saw him dis- 
mount easily and walk off with a springy step, he could 
hardly be made to believe that the horseman was ninety 
years old. 

There was no secret about the physical vigor he main- 
tained in his later years, but the retention of his extraor- 
dinary powers of body and mind undoubtedly was in a 
measure due to his ability to sleep, though, reasoning in 
a circle, it might be said that his ability to sleep was due 
to his physical attributes. He was accustomed to take a 
nap after luncheon, and in the closing years the length of 
this nap gradually lengthened. All his life he had the 
faculty of securing a short sleep in the daytime, but the 
real source of his strength was due to sleep during the 
hours that nature has prescribed for it. Regularly he 
went to bed at eleven o'clock, and he was wont to say that 
within five minutes he would be in a sound sleep from 
which he would not wake till morning. 

Once he took part in a railway conference in which 
not only much money but other considerations equally 



290 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

important were involved. Men of large affairs were 
there. Their interests were conflicting and the antag- 
onisms that developed became sharply personal. The 
conference broke up without coming to any agreement. 
Mr. Davis, as one of the principals, himself had been 
lifted out of his usual self-possession and exhibited some 
annoyance. The next day, when he came to his office, 
he spoke of the matter complainingly, which was unusual 
with him. *T was much upset by that dispute," he said. 
"Last night I couldn't get to sleep for half an hour after 
I went to bed." The probability was very strong that 
the majority of his associates had not been able to sleep 
at all. 

Mr. Davis's religious faith was deep and unquestion- 
ing. It was conviction and not simply belief. He was 
a Presbyterian and his Calvinistic faith was part of his 
Scotch-Irish inheritance. All his life he was a member 
of the Presbyterian Church, but he was tolerant of all 
creeds. After his death, among his papers was found a 
newspaper clipping quoting J. Pierpont Morgan's con- 
fession of faith : 

I commit my soul unto the hands of my Saviour, in full confi- 
dence that, having redeemed it and washed it in his most precious 
blood, He will present it faultless before the throne of my Heav- 
enly Father; and I entreat my children to maintain and defend, at 
all hazards, and at any cost of personal sacrifice, the blessed doc- 
trine of the complete atonement for sin through the blood of 
Jesus Christ, once oflfered, and through that alone. 

Mr. Davis himself subscribed to that deep sentiment. 
Another newspaper clipping gave in parallel columns the 
old and new Presbyterian catechism; that is, the West- 
minster catechism and the new catechism. This was 
three years before his death, and bore his initials. His 
own confession of faith appears in the most sacred and 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 291 

intimate form that the words of man can express. It is 
in the entry in his journal describing the illness and death 
of his wife, paying her the tender tribute that is meant 
only for a life companion, and concluding : "I hope and 
believe in Heaven." 



CHAPTER XX 

THE CLOSING YEARS 

Tranquil activities of Mr. Davis to the end — Slowing up in 
business affairs not marked — Fraternal associations — Memories 
of the Order of Odd Fellows — The commemorative jewel — No 
Ciceronian reflections on Old Age — Reforesting the wilderness 
for future generations — Anecdotes of contemporaries — Health 
strategy — Comment on public affairs — Anniversary tributes to 
his life and work — At ninety-two — Last summer at Elkins — 
Meditations for the Railway Builder — Winter in Washington — 
Journal entries — Illness and death — Retrospect of a long life. 

THE time when a long and active life drew to an 
end has been anticipated in the previous chap- 
ters. Yet until the very last there remained 
much of that remarkable life to be told. The closing 
years might be thought by those of his own age to begin 
at threescore and ten, but that was the period in which 
his activities were too manifold to think of their coming 
to an end. After it came the second decade of biblical 
old age, but he was then beginning and carrying through 
important railway and development enterprises. Per- 
haps the last decade might be taken as the closing period, 
and that included continuous if not incessant activities. 
Though these activities have been told in detail, some of 
them bear elaboration. 

Mr. Davis's mode of living in the closing years was 
little different from that which it had been throughout 
the many previous years. In the early spring he would 
go to Elkins and remain till the late autumn or even till 

?Q2 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 293 

the frosts of winter appeared. The summers would be 
broken by visits to Bedford Springs in Pennsylvania or 
to Webster Springs in the heart of West Virginia, where 
he found the waters salutary. The winters were passed 
in Washington, sometimes at one of the hotels, but 
oftener with one of his daugliters, either Mrs. Lee or 
Mrs. Elkins. After the death of Senator Elkins in 191 1 
he went to live at the home of Mrs. Elkins. During 
these winter stays at the national capital he spent several 
hours every day at his office, following his accustomed 
routine. Business trips to New York were not infre- 
quent, while scarcely a week passed that he did not go 
over to Baltimore. Fortress Monroe usually provided 
a fortnight's recreation. 

During the last years he "slowed up" somewhat, as he 
phrased it, in business affairs ; yet the numerous entries 
in his journal throughout this period concerning the Coal 
and Coke Railway, the mines, and collateral matters af- 
forded little outward indication of any lessening of his 
labors. He was wont, however, himself to remark that 
too much should not be expected of a man of his age, 
and that he did not feel that he was capable of carrying 
on alone the various enterprises with which he was so 
closely identified. 

In the winter of 1912 a tacit admission on his part that 
he had been attempting too much was the arrangement 
under which his associates took more direct control of 
the railway and coal and timber properties. In noting 
the election of the new officers, he adds the comment : "I 
was eighty-nine." A year earlier he had relieved him- 
self of some of the responsibilities of the financial insti- 
tutions with which he was connected by resigning, and 
his comment on one of these resignations is equally 
brief : "I was a bank president for fifty years." 



294 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

While relieving himself of responsibility for the prop- 
erties with which he was identified, he took a greater in- 
terest than ever in trade and industry in their broader 
aspects. His activities in the West Virginia Board of 
Trade have been described in an earlier chapter. Some- 
thing also has been said of his relation to the West Vir- 
ginia Bankers' Association. This was largely of a per- 
sonal character, and it gave him opportunity to discuss 
the general subject of financing and banking with a clear- 
ness which showed that his mental powers were unim- 
paired. The address he delivered when the State Asso- 
ciation met at Elkins in the summer of 1913 illustrates 
his clear mental grasp. He was then in his eighty-eighth 
year. On neatly typewritten sheets the various topics 
are given in orderly and logical arrangement, and they 
are interspersed with numerous memoranda in his own 
handwriting. 

Natural phenomena interested him in the same meas- 
ure as current events. He watched with eagerness, like 
the rest of the world, the reappearance of Halley's comet 
in the spring of 1910 after its seventy-five years' absence, 
and confessed to some disappointment that when the 
comet did appear its transit was not up to his expecta- 
tions as a spectacle of the skies. To the lad of twelve, 
three quarters of a century earlier, it had seemed more 
brilliant; ''anyhow, folks made more fuss about it," he 
quaintly remarked. And he thou2:ht it had appeared in 
winter. His memory was not at fault. The transit of 
Halley's comet had been in mid-November, 1835. 

In these later years his mind turned back to old fra- 
ternal associations and he renewed the memories of his 
membership in various orders. His journal recites that 
he became a Mason, a member of Hiram Lodge, at Wes- 
ernport, Maryland, in i860. It was, however, the early 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 295 

associations with the Order of Odd Fellows that filled his 
mind and time most completely. His life literally was 
linked with the growth of this order in the United States, 
for his recollections went back to Thomas Wildey, who 
was one of the founders of the first lodge, organized at 
Baltimore in 1819, and who continued to be identified 
with it for forty years. Mr. Davis knew him, and had 
sat in the same lodge with him. He frequently attended 
the public functions of the Order. 

In May, 1909, Randolph Lodge presented him with a 
jewel in commemoration of his having been a member 
sixty-four years. The jewel was of solid gold studded 
with diamonds. The presentation was intensely grati- 
fying to him, but the account of the ceremony, including 
his own speech as given in his journal, is very modest, 
with a passing reference to newspaper clippings which 
give a full account of the ceremonies. 

Through the remaining years of his life the various 
lodges of Maryland and West Virginia continued to 
honor him. On the ninety-second anniversary of the 
Order at Baltimore, in April, 191 1, he was the principal 
guest. His own story of the celebration is characteris- 
tically concise : 

April 26, 191 1. By invitation of Maryland Grand Lodge I 
made about a half hour talk to a great crowd at Odd Fellows 
Temple in Baltimore ; gave a short history of Odd Fellowship, 
referred to good done by the Order, including Rebekah Order. 

Judge Alston G. Dayton in a reminiscent letter re- 
garding the presentation of the jewel indicates the deep 
sentiment of Mr. Davis toward the Odd Fellows' Order: 

It was the occasion when the Odd Fellows' organization pre- 
sented to him the medal which it confers upon its members who 
have kept up their membership in good standing for fifty con- 



296 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

tinuous years. The presentation was made the occasion for one 
of the largest gatherings ever held in the city of Elkins. It was 
my pleasant duty as a Past Grand Master of the Order to make 
an address on the occasion, and, speaking of the period of time 
covered by the Senator's life, the discoveries that had been made 
in it, the progress of civilization during it, I said the Senator had, 
by Divine Providence, been permitted in his nearly ninety years 
of life to see and have part in more important aflFairs than were 
embraced in any thousand-year period previous to that time. 
The thought struck him so forcibly that, in my deliberate judg- 
ment, he made one of the strongest, if not the strongest, most in- 
teresting, and really eloquent addresses of his life. It very greatly 
affected both the Senator and the very large audience of his 
Elkins neighbors and friends. 

As the years grew on him Mr. Davis sometimes talked 
of his age, but always in a matter-of-fact way. Cicero's 
reflections on Old Age would have made no appeal to 
him, because he was not given to philosophizing or mor- 
alizing. He took the growing years, like everything else 
in his existence, as something that was part of life and 
therefore not to be set apart as a subject for considera- 
tion in itself. To him it was the simple and natural 
thing to keep on planning and working. His mind was 
habituated to looking forward. While he was construct- 
ing his last railway, some comment was made on a short- 
term bond, fifteen years, which he issued as part of the 
financing. When asked why the term was so short he 
merely replied: ''Why, we may be able to get better inter- 
est rates in fifteen years, and we don't want to be tied 
up with our bonds too long." 

When he built his beautiful home, "Graceland," at 
Elkins, the estate was lined with poplars. While these 
grew rapidly, they did not prove to be in keeping with the 
landscape, and he therefore had them taken down and 
replaced by maples. To a member of his family who 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 297 

gently reproached him, saying that he would be without 
shade the rest of his life, he replied: "Oh, no; I shall be 
enjoying the maples." And this proved to be true. He 
lived to enjoy their shade. 

One day, in those closing years, a lawyer who had 
achieved a competency and was about to retire, was his 
companion on the train going over one of the Davis 
railway lines. Mr. Davis talked to him as the train 
sped along about the way the timber wilderness had been 
opened, lands cleared, and then reforested. The spruce 
used for pulp-making had been replanted. Later Mr. 
Davis showed him several tracts that had been cleared of 
hickory and replanted, commenting casually on the util- 
ity of this tree as one of the reasons that had impelled 
him to reforest those tracts. 

"How long does it take hickory to grow?" inquired the 
lawyer. "About forty years," was the reply. "We can 
always use hickory, and it ought to be kept growing." 
The lawyer reflected that if a man in his eighties still 
found something to do replanting forests and providing 
for the needs of future generations, it was not quite the 
thing for him to retire in middle age from his own pro- 
fession in which his career had been both honorable and 
useful. He at once telegraphed countermanding the 
sale of his law library and continued his practice. In- 
nate abhorrence of waste had something to do with re- 
planting the hickory and the spruce, but the striking 
thing was that Mr. Davis should keep on doing it in 
his old age. 

Mr. Davis did not care to be called venerable or a pa- 
triarch, and even the title of Grand Old Man of West 
Virginia was not always pleasing to him. But he some- 
times indulged in comparisons with other old men. A 
New England clergyman who was born on the same day 



298 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

of the same year used to write him annually, as the 
birth anniversary approached, and sign himself, "Your 
birthday brother." Mr. Davis enjoyed these letters, but 
they were somewhat too copious for him, and in dictating 
the reply he once remarked, "The minister has more time 
to write than I have. He doesn't have anything to do, 
while I am pretty busy." 

When well along in the eighties, he had an interview 
on some business matter with former Vice-President 
Levi P. Morton in the latter's New York office. Mr. 
Morton, when a trifling difference of opinion arose, jok- 
ingly remarked that Davis ought to agree with him, as 
he was the older. Coming away from the interview, Mr. 
Davis told the story with much glee, remarking: "Mor- 
ton doesn't seem to know that I am a year older than 
he is." 

A Baltimore friend of early years in the casual meet- 
ings with Mr. Davis plumed himself on his greater age. 
Once Mr. Davis showed impatience at his friend's re- 
miniscences, and after the prospective centenarian had 
left he said : "Blank is getting old; he has told that story 
before." Blank was then ninety-seven. 

Occasionally Mr. Davis would be compelled to admit 
that, while his health was good for a man of his age, 
he was not entirely free from the possibility of illness. 
At times he suffered severely from lumbago, and he bore 
the pain with a stoicism that was the wonder of his fam- 
ily. It took indirect methods of persuasion to induce 
him to heed the doctor's orders and lessen his activities. 
On one occasion when he was badly run down, and the 
doctor advised him to drop business and go away for a 
rest, he obstinately refused, insisting that he knew more 
about his health than the physician did. 

Strategy had to be employed. A member of his fam- 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 299 

ily approached him and said that the doctor wanted to 
talk with him about engineering and timber cruising and 
coal mining and running railways. "What does he want 
to talk about those things for?" was the inquiry. "Oh," 
was the reply, "he has concluded that he can do better 
mining coal and running a railway than in practising his 
profession of medicine." "May be he can," was the re- 
joinder. "May be he does know more about those things 
than about medicine and health. But you get my things 
ready and we'll start away to-morrow on that trip he told 
me to take." 

Mr, Davis's interest in politics and public affairs was 
undimmed until the very end. West Virginia politics 
became involved in a turmoil and both parties were rent 
by factions. The way in which he followed the develop- 
ments is attested by several large envelopes with clip- 
pings giving full accounts of the various manoeuvers and 
of the politicians engaged in them. 

Whenever he happened to be in Charleston during the 
meeting of the Legislature he would pay a visit to both 
branches. In the Senate, of which he had been a mem- 
ber for four years, he would be given a seat of honor by 
the presiding officer, and usually a recess would be taken 
in which members of all parties would show the warm 
regard in which they held him. Usually, too, on these 
visits to the State capital, he would give the local news- 
papers an interview in which, with his wonted frankness, 
his views would be expressed without regard to expe- 
diency. 

While conservative in his political views and actions, 
Mr. Davis had nothing of the trimmer in him, and when- 
ever he talked on politics it was known that he meant 
what he said. By his own example he had shown 
throughout his life the duty that he believed the citizen 



300 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

should take in public affairs, and this was not confined to 
the State and nation ; the civic welfare of the town and 
the local community were also of concern to him. An 
inconvenient journey under unfavorable conditions of 
travel, undertaken at ninety in order to vote at a local 
election, was evidence of this concern. 

Spending so much of his time at the national capital, 
Mr. Davis's interest in public affairs was the more keen. 
His visits to the Senate chamber were not frequent ; but 
on one occasion, after meeting many of the Senators who 
had not even begun their public career when he retired 
from public life, he caused an inquiry to be made con- 
cerning those who had served with him when he entered 
the Senate and who were still alive. He himself was 
eighty-nine years old. Of his former colleagues who 
were then living, Cornelius Cole of California was 
ninety, William Pitt Kellogg of Louisiana, eighty-two; 
Adelbert Ames of Mississippi, seventy-seven; William 
Sprague of Rhode Island, seventy-nine; George F. Ed- 
munds of Vermont, eighty-five; Alexander Caldwell of 
Kansas, eighty-three ; and Powell Clayton of Arkansas, 
eighty. Of these Senatorial contemporaries, George F. 
Edmunds and W. P. Kellogg were the only ones who 
survived Mr. Davis. 

These closing years brought to him many testimonials 
and tributes to his life-work. The anniversaries of his 
birth never failed to call forth articles in the newspapers. 
When he was ninety there was a whole sheaf of news- 
paper felicitations. Some of these reviewed his long 
and active career in business and in public affairs, while 
others contented themselves with an interpretation of his 
life. Said a Pittsburgh journal : 

A man who is physically and mentally well and strong and active 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 301 

at ninety is an inspiration not merely to men of ripe years, but to 
young men — to young men, for example, who are beginning life 
as railroad brakemen, as he did, or in some similar occupation 
which does not appear to hold out large hope of after eminence 
and affluence. 

A newspaper of his own State commented : 

His has been a remarkable career ; he has risen from the ranks, 
beginning life in humble circumstances and attaining many years 
ago a position of influence in the affairs of his State second to 
that of no man bom or living within its borders. He has con- 
tributed probably more than any other one man to its development 
and growth. He has had confidence in it and in its people, and 
the people have had reciprocal faith in him. He has developed its 
resources, increased its wealth, built railroads and cities, and 
creditably represented the interests of its people in positions of 
trust and responsibility to which they have called him. 

When he reached ninety-two the tributes and the testi- 
monials were even more appreciative. One of the West 
Virginia newspapers made the ninety-second anniver- 
sary the theme for this comment : 

Ninety-two years ago in the city of Baltimore a child was born 
who was destined to have more to do with the upbuilding of a 
sister State, then unborn, than perhaps any other man. That 
child was Henry Gassaway Davis. . . . Mr. Davis has been a 
prominent figure in the business, social, and political life of his 
adopted State. He has grown old in the service of his people, 
always devoting his time and energy to the upbuilding of their 
interest. 

More than a score of years have passed since the Grand Old 
Man of West Virginia, as he has long been affectionately called, 
reached and passed the allotted threescore and ten. In the course 
of human life he cannot be expected to remain many more years, 
but it is the earnest hope of his thousands of friends throughout 
the State that he may at least be permitted to round out a full 
century of useful life. When the time for his passing does finally 



302 THE LIFE AND TIMES OE 

come it will leave a void in West Virginia such as the loss of no 
other resident of the State could cause. 

A Wheeling journal, after summarizing some of the 
events of his life, concluded with this estimate : 

His career is part of the history of the State. His enterprises 
have helped to build it up, and he has represented it in the highest 
legislative halls of the land as well as in the councils of the brainy, 
resourceful, and wealthy — the men who do things. 

Mr. Davis's last summer at Elkins was an ideal one 
for a long life that was drawing to a serene close. A 
quarter of a century earlier he had selected for the site 
of his home a wooded hill to the north of the town, on 
which he erected a commodious residence of Norman 
architectureal design, which he named ''Graceland" in 
honor of his daughter Grace. The house was built of 
pink sandstone taken from a near-by quarry. To the 
east of this residence on another hill was the summer 
home of Senator Elkins, named, in honor of Mrs. Elkins, 
''Halliehurst." 

During this last summer Mr. Davis In the ordinary 
course of his business activities visited the towns that 
had grown up from the wilderness undsr his guiding 
hand — Thomas, Davis, Parsons, Hendricks, Bayard, 
Blaine and the others that marked the progress of the 
West Virginia Central Railway. He also visited Gassa- 
way on the Coal and Coke Railway, and the other new 
communities that also owed their existence to his enter- 
prise. 

At Elkins he found his greatest enjoyment. He wan- 
dered over the farm, with all its modern improvements, 
just as he had wandered over the Woodstock farm as a 
boy eighty years earlier, and in a hundred ways he 
showed how keen was still his interest in rural life. His 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 303 

interest was even greater in the town of Elkins. From 
his room at "Graceland" he could look down on the 
smokestacks of the factories that owed their existence to 
him, and he could watch the locomotives as they were 
shunted in and out of the shops that had been built by 
him. Here was a thriving community of 8,000 busy, 
contented people, a railroad center, where a quarter of a 
century before had been a crossroads with a blacksmith 
shop. If he grew tired watching the industrial activities 
spread below him, his eyes could wander along the hor- 
izon of the mountains that inclosed the valley. It was a 
scene for the contemplation and the meditation of the 
Railway Builder. 

In his journal, just before leaving Elkins, he recorded, 
under date of November 20, 191 5: ''This is a fine fall." 
His last journey to the national capital is thus described : 

December 18, 1915. I left Elkins for Washington. Stopped 
overnight at Gassaway. Left Gassaway, spent day at Charleston, 
came to Washington on night of 19th; am at Hallie's (Mrs. El- 
kins's). While in Charleston called upon Gov. Hatfield, Secre- 
tary Reed, and Auditor Dent. Also at Davis Children's Home ; 
about forty little ones there. They have found homes for 845 
children. 

This was the Child's Shelter which he supported. On 
reaching Washington the following morning he went to 
church with Mrs. Elkins. 

The winter in Washington was after his usual routine. 
He spent several hours every day at his office. Social 
intercourse claimed much of his attention. He attended 
a few formal functions, but he enjoyed much more in- 
formal dinners and luncheons at the Elkins home. He 
especially enjoyed being a guest at a luncheon given to 
ladies, he being the only man permitted to be present. 



304 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

*The women's talk is much more interesting," he used 
to say, and then would add quaintly: "They are all so 
attentive when there's only one man." 

His own observations on the winter season were re- 
corded in two entries in his journal : 

December 25, 191 5. Christmas. Weather good. Country 
generally is prosperous, and looks good. 

February 15, 1916. Weather cold. Railway and coal mines 
doing fairly well. I am in Washington, staying with HaUie. 

A few days after this entry was made he took a bad 
cold which developed into a case of the grippe. He did 
not himself consider it as serious, although he realized 
that his powers of recuperation were getting feebler. 
Until the last he was well enough to see the members of 
the family, and it was rarely that some of them were not 
in the sickroom. He talked of current matters with his 
usual conciseness and deprecated the family taking too 
much trouble about him. 

There was a pause in the progress of his illness which 
appeared to indicate a temporary improvement. So 
favorable seemed the change that on the night of March 
10 his daughter, Mrs. Elkins, was bidden by the physi- 
cians to go to her own room for a good night's sleep, 
while the other members of the family were also told 
that there was likely to be no change for the worse. Ac- 
cordingly they retired. Shortly after midnight the 
change came unexpectedly, and an hour later Mr. Davis 
passed away almost as in a quiet sleep. Funeral services 
were held at the Elkins home in Washington, and then 
the remains were taken to Elkins and interred in the 
beautiful Maplewood Cemetery beside his wife and 
among the kindred for whom he had prepared this final 
resting-place. 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 305 

Eulogies of his career, Interpretations of his Hfe and 
work, filled the journals after his death. The estimate 
of what he had wrought for his own State was crystal- 
lized in this paragraph In the Wheeling Intelligencer: 

Day-dreams of the Piedmont station agent transformed into 
perpetual realities. . . . Towns, mills, railroads, villages, cities, 
churches, schools, stand monuments to meet the quiet gaze of the 
man who brought them to a thriving existence. 

Reviews of the period covered by this remarkable life 
were not confined to local achievements. Nor should 
they be. The times In which he lived, the events of 
which Henry G. Davis was a part, covered almost a cen- 
tury of history. He was a babe of a fortnight when 
President James Monroe enunciated the Doctrine with 
which he himself three quarters of a century later was to 
become identified through his participation as a member 
of International American Conferences. He was a year 
old when Lafayette visited the United States and revived 
the memories of France's contribution to the Revolution. 
He was in advancing childhood when John Quincy 
Adams was President, and was an observant, growing 
boy during the administration of Andrew Jackson. A 
child old enough to see the venerable and Imposing 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton lay the corner-stone for 
the first railway in the United States, he lived to see in 
operation a quarter of a million miles of railroad to the 
building of which he had contributed his share. 

His first vote, that for Henry Clay, was cast in the 
year when the first telegraphic message was transmitted 
between Baltimore and Washington. That was the 
year, too, in which Rutherford B. Hayes, whose term as 
President was to run parallel with his career In the 
United States Senate, was born. He was In vigorous 



3o6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF 

young manhood, demonstrating his abilities for railway 
management, when Alton B. Parker, who was to head 
the ticket fifty-two years later for President with Henry 
G. Davis as the candidate for Vice-President, was born. 
He was thirty-five years of age, the period that Dante 
marks as the arch of life, when Theodore Roosevelt was 
born, and the pony express, the forerunner of the trans- 
continental railways, was established between St. Louis 
and San Francisco. 

Looking beyond the boundaries of his own country, he 
was a lad of twelve when Queen Victoria ascended the 
throne of England, and he lived through that reign, and 
more than a score of years after the Golden Jubilee. He 
was in public life and political leadership in his own 
State, and at the threshold of his career as a Senator of 
the United States, when Sedan fell, Paris capitulated, 
and victorious Prussia established the German Empire 
over the body of prostrate France. He lived to see the 
Empire thus established plunge Europe into a war that 
was to become a world war without parallel and to in- 
volve his own country at the period most critical for the 
cause of civilization. 

He lived through the War with Mexico, the Civil War, 
and the Spanish- American War, and as a citizen and a 
public man, discharging official duties, he had his part in 
all the national responsibilities growing out of those 
wars. In every phase of his career — as a railway 
builder. In the development of the natural resources of 
his own State, as a guiding force in the building of the 
commonwealth with which his public life was identified, 
as a factor in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere on 
their international side, as a Senator of the United 
States, and as a trusted political leader — the constructive 
character of his mind was always manifest. And 



I 



HENRY GASSAWAY DAVIS 307 

throughout his long and varied career he was always in 
touch with his own kind. He literally worked as if he 
were to live forever, and lived as if he were to die to- 
morrow. 



THE END 



INDEX 



Abolitionists, 22 
Adams, John Quincy, 305 
Agricultural College at Morgan- 
town, 46 
Alabama claims, 81 
Alexis, Grand Duke, 162 
Allen, William, 249, 250 
Allison, William B., 58, 59, 235, 236 
Alzamora, Isaac, 113, 116 
Ames, Adelbert, 300 
Anadon, Lorenzo, 112 
Ancient South River Club, 4 
Anne Arundel County, 4, 5, 6, 10, 15 
Armstead, Bessie, 228 
Arriaga, Don Antonio Laza, 127 
Arthur, Chester A., 106 
Ashland, 23 

Atkinson, Governor, 218 
Azpiroz, Don Manuel de, 126 

Baer, George F., 245 
Baez, Cecilio, 113 
Baker, George F., 133 
Baker, Lewis, 48, 51 
Balmaceda, President, 113 
Baltimore: at time of Mr. Davis' 
birth, 7 et seq.; 11, 16, 20, 195, 

Baltimore, Lord, 3 et seq., 223 

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad: char- 
tered, 9, 10; test by, of Peter 
Cooper's engine, 11 et seq.; de- 
velopment of, project, 12 et seq.; 
Caleb Davis in relation to, 13; 
Henry G. Davis becomes brake- 
man on, 17 et seq.; attitude of 
Virginia Legislature toward, 25, 
26; relation of, to Civil War, 30 
et seq.; 90, 91, 103, 225, 243, 246 

Banking, pioneer, 28 

Bantz, Judge Gideon, 25; death of, 
27 

Bantz, Katharine Anne : marriage 
of, and Henry G. Davis, 25; chil- 
dren of, 228; character sketch of, 



229, 230; death of, 230. See also 
H. G. Davis 
Barnum, William H., 7;^ 
Barra, Francisco de la, 116 
Barrett, John, 11 1 
Bayard, Thomas F.: 55, 81, 88, 97; 
campaign, 137 et seq.; 140, 142, 
143, 163, 23s, 243; quoted in re- 
gard to Garfield's assassination, 
266; quoted on own Presidential 
nomination, 267; views of, on 
Tilden's candidacy, 268; political 
opinions of, 271 ; quoted on B. F. 
Butler, 271; tributes of, to H. G. 
Davis, 271, 272; 302 

Beale, Mr. 138 

Beck, James B., y^ 

Bedford Springs, 293 

Belgium, 277 

Berkeley Springs, 42 

Bermejo, Antonio, 112 

Bermuda, 277, 279 

Berwind, E. J., 188 

Birmingham, Ala., 278 

Blaine, James G. : Speaker of the 
House, 55 ; jt,, 74; tribute of, to 
Senator Davis, 89, 97; quoted, 
98; speech of, at International 
Congress, 107; review of First 
International Congress by, no; 
140, 163; friendship between, and 
Senator Davis, 234, 235 ; 271, 302 

Blair, Francis P., Jr., 55, 56 

Bland, R. P., 58 

Bliss, Cornelius, 107 

Bogg, Mr., 190 

Boreman, Governor: cited, 38; 
message of, cited, 42 

Bower, W. H., 189, 191, 192 

Braxton County, 189 

Brennan Ignatius, poem by, on 
West Virginia's "Grand Old 
Man," 205, 206 

Brown, Elizabeth A., mother of Ar- 
thur Pue Gorman, 7 



3Q0 



310 



INDEX 



Brown, John Riggs, 6 

Brown, Joshua, 6 

Brown, Louisa Warfield, mother of 
Henry Gassaway Davis: 6; mar- 
riage of, and Caleb Davis, 7, 
224 

Brown, Lieutenant-Commander M. 
R. G., 228 

Brown, Mr., 51 

Brown, Captain Samuel, 6 

Brown, William Howard, 223 

Browne, Thomas, 5 

Browns, and the Davises, 3 et seq. 

Bryan, William Jennings : part 
played by H. G. Davis in free- 
silver campaign of, 147; tribute 
of, to Mr. Davis, 147, 148; com- 
ment on, in Mr. Davis' journal, 
151; in Convention of 1904, at 
St. Louis, 168 et seq.; visit of, to 
Mr. Davis, 179; support of, for 
President by Mr. Davis, 287, 288 

Buchanan, James, 141 

Buchanan, W. L, in, 118 

Buckhannon River, 188, 191, 192 

Buenos Aires Conference (Fourth 
International American), 134, 135 

Burke, United States Treasurer, 
200 

Burnsville, 190 

Butler, Benjamin F., views of 
Thomas F. Bayard on, 271 

Buxton, Upton, 224 

Calderon, Manual Alvarez, 113, 127 

Caldwell, Alexander, 300 

Calhoun, John Caldwell, 22 

California, 30, 277 

Callahan, Professor James Morton: 
quoted on West Virginia's indus- 
trial awakening, 91 ; quoted, lOi- 
103 

Calverts, the: Lord Barons of 
Baltimore, 3 et seq. 

Calvo, Joaquin Bernardo, 114 

Cambon, Monsieur, 240 

Camden, Colonel Johnson N. : 40, 
47, 48; election of, to Senate, 80, 
97, 168, 243, 277 

Cameron, Simon, 55 

Cannon, Joseph G., 58 

Cape Colony, 229 



Caperton, Allan T., 67 

Carbo, Louis Felipe, 113 

Carnegie, Andrew: 126, 240; letters 
of, quoted, 241, 273, 374 

Carroll, Charles, of CarroUtown: 
laying by, of cornerstone of first 
United States railroad, 9 ; quoted, 
10; 30s 

Carroll's Manor, 15 

Casasus, Joaquin, 115 

Cassatt, A. J.: 124, 244; Mr. Davis* 
estimate of, 245 

Cavey, Beale, 12, 13 

Chaffee, Jerome B., 97 

Chandler, Zachariah, 55 

Charleston, Clendennin & Sutton 
Railway, 188, 190 

Charleston, S. C, views of Mr. 
Davis on, 278 

Charleston, W. Va., 48, 187, 190, 
191, 192, 193, 204, 209, 218 

Chatman, Engineer, 190 

Chavero, Alfredo, 115 

Chesapeake & Ohio Canal project, 
8 et seq. 

Chesapeake & Ohio Railway: 91, 
187 

Children's Society of West Vir- 
ginia, 218 

Child's Shelter, 181, 218, 219, 304 

Childs, George W., 244 

Cicero, 296 

Cincinnati Enquirer, 252 

Civil War: business conditions in 
upper Potomac region at out- 
break of, 29; importance of B. & 
O. Railway to Union cause dur- 
ing, 30 et seq.; West Virginia 
and the, 34-36 ; 38, 91, 203, 306 

Clark, Champ, 184 

Clarksburg, 188, 204 

Clay, Henry : friendship of, and H. 
G. Davis, 22 et seq.; 105, 305 

"Clay's Compromise," 22 

Clayton, Powell, 56, 300 

Cleveland, Grover: 106; before 
Democratic National Convention, 
138; Mr. Davis' account of con- 
ference with, 139, 140; formation 
of, cabinet, 141 ; unanimous nomi- 
nation of, at St. Louis Conven- 
tion, 142 ; Mr. Davis' views on 



INDEX 



311 



second candidacy of, 145, 146; 
before Chicago Democratic Con- 
vention, 146; 164; indorsement 
by, of Judge Parker, 168; 236, 
252, 263 ; apology to Mr. Davis 
from, quoted, 264 

Coal : Senator Davis' defense of 
tariif on, 82, 83 ; development of, 
resources of West Virginia by 
Mr. Davis, 186 ct seq. 

Coal and Coke Railway : 181 ; pro- 
jection of, by Mr. Davis, 188 et 
seq.; story of construction of, 
told in Mr. Davis' journal, 189 
et seq.; completion of, 192; 195, 
212, 293, 303 

Coal and Iron Railway, 185 

Cockrell, Francis M., 76, 106, 170 

Cocroft, 51 

Codecido, Emilio Bello, 113 

Cole, Cornelius, 300 

College Board of the Northern 
Presbyterian Church, 212 

Colorado, 74 

Comstock, Dr. Thomas, 218, 219 

Confederates : raids of, in upper 
Potomac region, 29 ; 30 ; status of 
ex-, 38, 41 ; controversy over 
status of ex-, terminated, 46; 58 

Conkling, Roscoe, 55 

Connellsville, 188 

Coolidge, T. Jefferson, 107 

Copen Run, 190 

Corcoran, W. W., 240 

Corea, Luis F., 114 

Correspondence, political history 
revealed in, 248-273 

Cowan, John K., 245 

Cox, Samuel S., 55 

Cuba, no, 277 

Cuban War, pages on, from Mr. 
Davis' journal, 239, 240 

Cumberland, Md., 18, 20, 22, 186 

Czar of Russia, in relation to rail- 
ways, 12 



Dailey, C. Wood, 150, 172 

Daniels, Senator, 178 

Dante, 306 

Davila, Fausto, 114 

Davis, Caleb: parentage of, father 



of H. G. Davis, 5 et seq.; 6. 7; 
marriages of, 8 et seq.; 223, 224 

Davis, David, 74 

Davis, Eli, 5 

Davis, Eliza Ann, 7 

Davis, Elizabeth, 7, 224 

Davis, Grace, 228 

Davis, Hallie, 228, 277 

Davis, Henry Gassaway: parentage 
of, 3 et seq.; epochal events in 
youth of, 9 et seq.; early advan- 
tages of, 12, 13 ; reverses of, 13 
et seq.; stone-quarryman, 15; ex- 
periences of, as B. & O. brake- 
man, 18, 19; quoted on early rail- 
road methods, 18, 19; promotion 
of, to conductor, 19, 20; brought 
under influence of Henry Clay, 
23, 24; courtship and marriage 
of, 25 ; station agent at Piedmont, 
26, 27; general merchant, 27; 
opens up timber resources of 
Piedmont region, 28; establishes 
Piedmont Savings Bank, 28; first 
acquisition of undeveloped land 
by, 29; and Civil War, 29 et seq.; 
interview with Lincoln, 31, 32; 
invests in timberlands, 32, 33 ; 
early public services of, 34 et 
seq.; attitude of, toward separa- 
tion of Virginia territory from 
Old Dominion, 35, 36; en- 
ters W. Va. Legislature, 36; ex- 
tracts from journal of, 40, 42; 
election of, to West Virginia Sen- 
ate, 42 ; delegate to Democratic 
National Convention, 43 ; extracts 
from journal of, 47, 48; as leader 
of State Senate, 51 ; journal, 
quoted, 51; letter of, to wife, 52; 
elected to United States Senate, 
52 ; quoted on West Virginia debt 
question, 52; Senator, first term, 
54 et seq.; assignment of, to 
Claims Committee, 57; on Appro- 
priations Committee, 59; speech 
of, on West Virginia war claims, 
59-61 ; argument of, against infla- 
tion, 62 et seq.; views of, on Na- 
tional Bank Act, 62, 63 ; on Com- 
mittee of Transportation Routes, 
64; extracts from journal of, 67; 



312 



INDEX 



views of, on Treasury accounts 
and Government bookkeeping, 
67-69; journal of, quoted on 
campaign for reelection to Sen- 
ate, 70; activities of, in second 
term as Senator, 73 et seq.; views 
of, on relation between capital 
and labor, 75, 76; retirement of, 
from Senate, 85 et scq.; Senato- 
rial valedictory of, in journal, 
89; the Railway Builder, 90-104; 
entries in journal of, on prospect- 
ing, 93-96; extracts from jour- 
nal, 98, 99, 100; and First Inter- 
national Conference, 105-120; 
speech of, at Mexican Confer- 
ence, 117, 118; and Pan-American 
Railway, 121-135 ; political activi- 
ties of, as private citizen, 136- 
151 ; extracts from journal of, on 
political situation, 140-143; jour- 
nal of, quoted, 148-151 ; social 
life of, 152-165 ; excerpts from 
journal of, on life at Deer Park 
and Washington, 153-165; Vice- 
Presidential nomination of, 171 ; 
entries in journal in relation to 
nominating convention, 171, 172; 
speech of, on return home after 
nomination, 172, 173; formal no- 
tification of nomination, 176; 
speech by, on acceptance of nomi- 
nation, 177, 178; entries in jour- 
nal on defeat, 180; support of 
Wilson-Marshall ticket by, 184; 
business interests of, enumerated 
in journal, 185; activities and re- 
sponsibilities of old age of, 186- 
194; extracts from journal, 186, 
188, 189, 190-194; quoted on in- 
strumentality of railroads in 
State development, 200; speech 
of, upon anniversary of first Bat- 
tle of Philippi, 203; "State Day" 
speech of, 206 et seq.; tributes to, 
as pioneer in upbuilding of West 
Virginia, 196-209; benefactions 
and charities of, 210-221 ; attitude 
of, toward family and kindred, 
222-231; brothers and sisters of, 
224; extracts from journal of, re- 
garding family matters, 224-228, 



230, 231 ; tribute of, to brother 
Thomas B. Davis, 226; eulogy 
paid by, to Stephen B. Elkins, 
quoted, 228; children of, and 
Katharine Bantz, 228; marriages, 
births, and deaths in family of, 
228 et seq.; death of wife of, 230; 
tribute to married life written by, 
in journal, 230; famous contem- 
poraries of, 232-247 ; importance 
of journal, 275 et seq.; personal 
characteristics of, 275-291 ; clos- 
ing years of, 292 et seq.; extracts 
from journal of, 295, 303, 304; ill- 
ness and death of, 304; resume 
of career of, 305-307 

Davis, Henry G., Jr., father's trib- 
ute to, 216; death of, at sea, 228 

Davis, John, 5, 7, 228 

Davis John B., 7, 224 

Davis, Kate, 228 

Davis, Nathan, 224 

Davis, Robert, 5 

Davis, Thomas, gentleman : arrival 
of, in Maryland, 5 

Davis, Thomas Brown: 7; cited, 
13 ; 27, 193, 215, 224 ; closeness of 
tie between, and H. G. Davis, 
225 

Davis, William R., 27, 224 

Davis Children's Home. See 
Child's Shelter 

Davis Coal and Coke Company, 185 ; 
Davis and Elkins College : 181 ; 
permanent endowment of, 213 

Davis National Bank, 185 

Davises, part played by the, and 
the Browns in Maryland's his- 
tory, 3 et seq. 

Davison, H. P., 133 

Dawes, Senator, 81 

Day, Secretary, 240 

Dayton, Judge Alston G. : cited, 49, 
50; quoted on Odd Fellowship, 
295, 296 

Declaration of Independence, 286 

Deer Park: life at, 152-165; 224, 
253. 276 

Democratic National Convention of 
1904, The, 166 et seq. 

Denver, 277 

Department of Agriculture, advo- 



INDEX 



313 



cacy of, by Senator Davis, ^^^ el 

seq. 
Depew, Chauncey M., 244, 245 
Dewey, Admiral, 240 
Diaz, Porfirio: 107, 115; Mr. Davis' 

estimate of, 238, 239; 279 
Dom Pedro, 162 
Downey, O. D., 47 
Drexel, A. J., 244 

Eaton, W. W., 67 

Edmunds, George F., 55, 300 

Electoral Commission, Mr. Davis' 
support of, 71 

Elk River, 190, 192 

Elkins, Stephen B. : 58, 140 ; in 
Harrison's cabinet, 145; 150, 179, 
186, 193, 212, 213, 216, 220; trib- 
ute of Mr. Davis to, 228; 293, 302 

Elkins, W. L., 245 

Elkins, W. Va. : 189, 190, 191, 192, 
193, 200; erection of church for 
colored Baptists at, by Mr. Davis, 
215 ; 220, 222, 228, 287, 292, 302, 
303 

Ellicott Mills, 10, II, 12, 223 

Elmore, Alberto, 113 

Emancipation Proclamation, 286 

Empire Coal and Coke Company, 
185 

Erie Canal, attitude of Baltimore 
toward building of, 8 et seq. 

Estee, M. M., 107 

Estupinian, Baltazar, 114 

Fairbanks, Charles W., 181 
Fairfax Stone, 32 

First International American Con- 
gress, 237 
Flick, W. H. H., 46, 47 
Flower, Mr., 243 
Folger, Secretary, 243 
Force Bill, 146 
Fortress Monroe, 293 
Fortuol, J. Gil, 114 
Forty-second Congress, 55-58 
Forty-third Congress, 58 et seq. 
Forty-fourth Congress, 67 et seq. 
Forty-fifth Congress, 73 et seq. 
Forty-sixth Congress, 76 et seq. 
Foster, Volney W., ill 



Fourth Legislature of West Vir- 
ginia, 36 et seq. 
Fox, Williams C, 112 
Frametown, 190 
Frederick, Md., 10, 17, 18, 25 
French Creek, 189, 190 
Fugitive slave laws, 22 



Galvais, Dr. M. M., 114 
Gana, Blest, 113 

Garfield, James A. : 55, 253 ; corre- 
spondence between Secretary 
Windom and Mr. Davis in rela- 
tion to, 254 
Garland, Augustus H. : 73; note 

from, 258 
Garrett, John W. : 103; quoted on 

"board of directors," 243, 254 
Gassaway, Brice J., 6 
Gassaway, Henry, 5 
Gassaway, Captain John Henry, 6 
Gassaway, Colonel Nicholas, promi- 
nence of, in colonial Maryland, 
4,6 
Gassaway, Sarah, 6 
Gassaway, Captain Thomas, 4, 5 
Gassaway, W. Va. : 191, 193, 212; 
church erected at, by Mr. Davis, 
215 
General Amnesty Bill, 58 
Geological Survey of West Va., 198 
Georges Creek, 29 
German Empire, 306 
Gettysburg Address, Lincoln's, 206 
Gibbons, Cardinal, 157, 161 
Gilmer County, 189 
Glasscock, Governor, 197, 204 
Goff, Nathan, Sr., 39; letter of, 

quoted, 258, 259 
Goff, Nathan, Jr., letter of, quoted, 

258 
Golden Jubilee of West Virginia, 

program of, 205 
Goodfellowship : estate of the 
Davises and the Browns, 5 ct 
seq.; 12, 14, 18; Mr. Davis' love 
for, 222, 223 
Gordon, General John B., 59 
Gorman, Arthur Pue: 7, 13, 88, 145, 
163, 178, 222; relations between, 
and Mr. Davis, 226, 227; 243, 



314 



INDEX 



245; letters of, on Parker-Davis 
campaign quoted, 265 

Gorman, Peter, 13 

Gould, George J., 191 

Goulds, the, 186 

"Graceland," 296, 302 

Grafton, 48 

Grant, U. S. : 55, 59 ; veto of Infla- 
tion Bill by, 64; 162 

Grassy Run, 189, 190 

Greeley, Horace, 57 

Green, Governor, 42 

Greenherry, Colonel Nicholas, 3. 4 

Guachalla, Fernando P., 112 

Hagerstown, 186 
Hall, Leonard S., 43, 44 
Halley's comet, 294 
"Halliehurst," 302 
Hambleton, John A.: boyhood 
friendship of, for Mr. Davis, 12; 

97 

Hamlin, Hannibal, 55 
Hampshire County, 29, 40 
Hancock, Winfield S., 80 
Hancock's, glimpses of life at, dur- 
ing Polk's administration, 21, 22 
Harmon, Judson, 184 
Harper's Ferry, 23 
Harris, J. S., 24S 

Harrison, Benjamin: 88, 106, 124, 
135; nominee of Republican 
party, 142, 143 ; relations between, 
and the Davises, 143, I44 et seq., 
160, 161 ; personal estimate of, by 
Mr. Davis, 237 ; quoted, 261 ; let- 
ter of, in regard to investments 
quoted, 262, 263 
Harrison, Carter, 266 
Hay, John, iii 

Hayes, Rutherford B.: 39; cam- 
paign, 71 ; administration, 73 ^* 
seq., 236, 250, 305, 306 
Hearst, William R., 168 
Helper, Hinton Rowan, cited, 122 
Hendricks, Thomas A., 138, 236, 

237, 302 
Henry, Patrick, 203 
Hill, Benjamin H., 73 
Hill, David B., 170, 178 
Hoar, George F., 74 
Hoge, Reverend Moses D., ^0 



Hoge, Mr., 243 
Holt, John H., 202 
Houston, General Sam, 22 
Howard, Governor, 15, 16, 18 
Howe, Postmaster-General, 243 
Hubbard, Governor W. P., 201 
Huntington, 199 

Inflation Bill : 59-63 ; veto of, 64 

Ingalls, John James, 59, 81 

Intercontinental Railway Survey 
Commission, 245 

International American Confer- 
ences, 105-120 

International High Commission, 

135 . . 

Interstate Commerce Commission, 

245 
Iroquois Club, 266 

Jackson, Andrew, 305 
Jacobs, J. J., 47 
James River, 197 
Jefferson County, 45 
Johnson, Andrew, 67 
Jones, John P., 59 
Jowles, Henry, Esquire, 4 

Kanawha Canal, 39, I97 

Kanawha and Michigan Railway, 

187 
Keenan, C, 7 

Kellogg, William Pitt, 55, 300 
Kelly, John, 138 
Kenna, Representative, 243 
Kerens, Richard C, 124, 194 
Kernan, Francis, 67, 138 
Kerr, Michael, 67 
Key, J. W., 40 
Keyser, William, 97, 98 
Killarney, 277 
Kings, 190 

Kirkwood, Samuel, 74 
Knapp, M. A., 245 

Lafayette: visit of, to United 
States, 8, 305 

Lamar, L. Q. C, 58, 73 

Lamb, Daniel: quoted on separa- 
tion of West Virginia from Old 
Dominion, 36; 5^ 



INDEX 



315 



Latrobe, John H. B., cited on Balti- 
more, 8 

Lazo-Arriaga, Antonio, 114 

Lee, Arthur, 228 

Leo XIII, 157 

Leonard, Jose, 114 

" Let-Ups," significance of, 41 

Libau, 228 

Lincoln, President : attitude of, to- 
ward B. & O. Railway during 
War, 30 et seq.; interview with 
Mr. Davis, 31, 32; quoted on Mr. 
Davis's usefulness to Union cause, 
32 

Linthecomb, Reverend Mr., 7 

Little Hand, 190 

Logan, John A., 55 

London, 277 

Loudenslager Hill, 8 

Louisville, 278 

Macedo, Pablo, 115 

MacCorkle, William A.: 168; letter 

of, 217; 218 
Madison, James, 203 
Maine, blowing up of, 239, 240 
Manchester Railway, 9 
Manila, 240 

Marmol, Manual Sanchez, 116 
Marshall Coal and Coke Company, 

185 

Marshall, John, 203 

Martinez, Joaquin Walker, 113 

Masons : provisions of Mr. Davis 
for, 220, 295 

Mathews, W. B., 220 

Matte, Augusto, 113 

McAdoo, Secretary, 135 

McDonald, Joseph E., 67 

McGraw, John T., 150 

McKinley, William, 74, in, 150 

McKinney, Owen S., 168 

McLane, Representative, 243 

McLean, John R., 252 

McPherson, J. R., yz 

McWhorter, Henry Clay, 37 

Maryland, leaves from, colonial his- 
tory, 3 et seq. 

Mendonga, Salvadore de, 107 

Merou, Garcia, 112 

Mexican War, 23, 240, 306 

Mexico, 22, no, 186, 238, ^7, 279 



Mill Creek Coal and Coke Com- 
pany, 185 

Missouri, the, 228 

Missouri Compromise, 286 

Monkeston, the, 229 

Monroe Doctrine, 105, 149, 305 

Monroe, James, 305 

Moore, Mr., 189 

Morgan, John T., 76, 82 

Morgan, J. Pierpont: 244; confes- 
sion of faith of, 290 

Mormons, 2yy 

Morrill, Justin F., 55 

Morrill, Lot M., 55, 59, 74 

Morrison, Colonel W. R., 58 

Morton, Levi P., cited, 298 

Morton, Oliver P., 55 

Mosby, General, 30 

Mt. Vincent, 229 

Mucciola, Count, 157 

Murray, Oscar G., 245 

Myer's Mill, 188 

Nashville, 278 

Naylor, Roy B., tribute of, to Mr. 
Davis, quoted, 205 

New Mexico, 58 

New Orleans : Mr. Davis quoted on 
taxes in, 278 

New York: 8; attitude of Balti- 
more toward, at beginning of 
Nineteenth Century, 8, 195, 279, 

293 
North American Review, article by 

Mr. Davis in, on Pan-American 

Railway, quoted, 130-132 
Norwood, Senator, 65 
Nye, Senator, 66 

Odd Fellows: 180; Mr. Davis' gifts 

to, 220, 295, 296 
Oglesby, Richard J., 59 
Ohio, 9, 187, 203, 249-252 
Oil, 194 

Ordinance of Secession, 29 
Orla, Colonel Francisco, 114 
Otter Creek, 190 
Owen, Senator, 247 

Pan-American Conferences, 105- 
120, 135, 186, 273 



3i6 



INDEX 



Pan-American Railway, 121-135, 
238, 273 

Pan-American Railway Committee, 
126 et seq., 181 

Panic of 1373, 61 et seq. 

Pardo, Emilio, 115 

Paris, 277, 306 

Parker, Judge Alton B. : before 
Democratic National Convention 
of 1904, 168 et seq.; gold tele- 
gram of, 174, 247, 306 

Parkersburg, 48, 49, 220 

Parkersburg Convention, 150 

Parsons, Richard A-, 122, 302 

Pefia, Senior Roque Saenz, 107 

Pendleton, George H. : 76, 243; 
quoted on factional politics, 252 

Pennsylvania, 203 

Pennsylvania Railway system, 104, 
124 

Pepper, Charles M. : iii; activities 
of, as Pan-American Commis- 
sioner, 127 et seq. 

Pereira, Jose Hygeni Duarte, 113 

Peshens, Mr., 190 

Pettus, Senator, 181 

Philadelphia, 8, 195 

Philippi, celebration of first battle 
of, 202-204 

Philippines, attitude of Mr. Davis 
toward, policy, 237 

Piedmont, 26, 185, 211 

Piedmont and Cumberland Rail- 
way, 185 

Piedmont and Potomac Railway, 
92 

Pineda, Rosendo, 115 

Piatt, Thomas C, 58 

Polk, James K., 21 

Portilla, Jose Lopez, 116 

Porto Rico, 240 

Potomac and Piedmont Coal and 
Railway Company, 39, 40 

Powell, Reverend W. E., letter of, 
quoted, 215 

Pratt, Enoch, 244 

Price, George E., 218, 219 

Prussia, 306 

Puck, 256 

Pullman, George M., 124 

Putnam, Herbert: poem, "West 
Virginia," by, quoted, 208, 209 



Queen's Coal and Coke Company, 

185 



Ragiosa, Genaro, 115, 118 
Railroads : motive power of early 
American, 11, 12; pioneer days 

of, 17-33 

"Railway dinners," 244-247 

Ramsey, Joseph, 191 

Randall, Nathan, 5 

Randall, Samuel J.: 55, 74; letter 
of, 257 

Randall, Sarah, 5 

Randolph County, 187, 189, 192 

Ransom, Matthew W., 55 

Rayes, General Rafael, 113 

Raymond City, 202 

Reading Railroad, 245 

Rebellion. See Civil War 

Reed, Thomas B., 74 

Revolution, 203 

Reyes, Francisco A., 114, 116, 117 

Richmond Convention, 29 

Rio Conference (Third Interna- 
tional American), 132 et seq. 

Roaring Creek, 188, 189 

Robb, Mr., 189, 190 

Roberts, George B. : Mr. Davis' es- 
timate of, 244 

Romero, Senor Matias, 106 

Romney, 29 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 180, 184, 306 

Ross, Lord, expedition, 7 

Rowles, Sarah, 7 

Sago, 189, 190, 191 

Salt Lake City, 277 

Samoa, 229 

Sampson, Admiral, 240 

Sand Run, 1S9 

Santiago, Chile (Fifth International 

American) Conference, 135 
Sawmills, the Davis, in Piedmont 

Valley, 27, 28 
Schoonmaker, James M., 246, 2f47 
Schurz, Carl, 56, 233 
Scott, Crawford, 188 
Scott, I. K., 188 
Scott, Nathan B., 150 
Scott, W. L., 138 
Sedan, 306 



INDEX 



317 



Semi-Centennial of West VirJ 

ginia's Statehood, ig6, 202 
"Semi-Centennial History of West 
Virginia," by James Morton Cal- 
lahan, quoted, 91, loi, 103 
Seymour, Horatio, 40, 78 
Shaw, Major Alexander, 98 
Sherman, John, 55, 57, 233 
Silva, Carlos Martinez, 113 
Silver, remonetization of, 75 et seq. 
Sissonville, 49 
Smith, Colonel B. H., 51 
Smith, Clay, 42 
Spanish-American War, 237, 239, 

240, 306. Sec also Cuban War 
Spencer, Samuel, 245 
Speyer, James, 245 
Sprague, William, 300 
State Bankers' Association, 200 
Steam, introduction of, as motive 

power of railroads in United 

States, II, 12 
Steever, Captain E. Z., 125 
Stephenson, George, 9, 20 
Stevenson, William E., 43, 46, 197 
St. Louis Convention of 1888, 142 
Strike (railway) of 1877, Mr. 

Davis' story of, 242 
Studebaker, Clement, 107 
Sumner, Charles: 55; death of, 59 
Sutton, 188, 190 
Swann, Thomas : quoted, 19, 20 ; 

presents Mr. Davis to President 

Lincoln, 31-33; 55 
Switzerland, 277 

Tallahassee, 278 

Teller, Henry M., 74 

Texas, 22 

Thomas, Evan, 9, II 

Thomas, P. E., 9 

Thompson, John K., 202 

Thomson, Frank, 244 

"Three American Railways," by 

Hinton Rowan Helper, cited, 122 
Thurman, Allen G. : 55, 56, 142, 

232, 222,', letters of, quoted, 249, 

250 et seq., 251 
Tilden, Samuel J.: campaign of, 69, 

71 ; 257 
Timberlands, development of, 27- 

3Z, passim; 192 



Trenton, U. S. S., 229 

Trescott, William Henry, 107 

Trumbull, Lyman, 55, 56 

Trust Company of West Virginia, 

185 
Tucker County, 187 
"Twenty Years of Congress," by 

James G. Blaine, quoted, 89; 

cited on Mr. Davis, 235 
Tygart's Valley, 192 

Underwood, Frederick, 246 

Underwood, Oscar, 247 

Union-Conservatives, ^6, 38 

Union Pacific Railroad, 30 

Uniontown, 188 

United States : part played by 
Chesapeake and Ohio Road in 
development of, 9 et seq. 

United States Bank, 201 

Upshur County, 189, 192 

Valley Coal and Coke Company, 
185 

Vance, J. S., 40 

Vanderlip, Frank A., 133 

Velardo, Senor de, no 

Venice Bank, 201 

Vest, George G,, 76 

Victoria, Queen, 306 

Virginia: Legislature and the Bal- 
timore and Ohio Railroad, 25, 26; 
debt between, and West Virginia, 
45; loss of territory by, in Civil 
War, 203 

Voorhees, Daniel W., 73 

Wabash Railroad, 186, 191 

Wages, attitude of Mr. Davis to- 
ward employees', 194 

Walkersville, 192 

Warfield, Edwin, 200 

Washington, 7, 22, 209, 293, 276, 
306 

Washington Coal and Coke Com- 
pany, 185 

Washington, George, 32, 203, 286 

Washington Star, quoted on Mr. 
Davis' position on tariff, 183 

Watkins, Dr., 223 

Waverly, estate of Governor How- 
ard, 15-18, passim 



3i8 



INDEX 



Webster, Daniel, 22 

Weed, Smith, 138 

Weitzel Qjunty, 43 

Weston, 188 

Western Maryland Railroad, 186 

West Virginia: birth of State of, 
34 et seq.; action of, Legislature 
on disfranchisement of ex-Con- 
federates, 27 et seq.; debt be- 
tween Virginia and, 45; war 
claims, 59-61; waterways, 65, 66; 
railways in, 90-104; development 
of, coal resources by Mr. Davis, 
187; semi-centennial of, 196; 
recognition of Mr. Davis' services 
to State of, 197 et seq., 202 et 
seq.; Board of Trade, 199, 200, 
294; Mr. Davis' review of moral 
and material development of, 206 
et seq.; Mr. Davis' political posi- 
tion in, 258 

"West Virginia," poem by Herbert 
Putnam, quoted, 208, 209 

West Virginia Bankers' Associa- 
tion, 294 

West Virginia Central Railway, 92, 
103, 18s, 193, 195, 302 

West Virginia Immigration and 
Development Association, 198 

West Virginia University, 46 

Wheeler, Vice-President, 236 

Wheeling: 23, 26, 48, 204; celebra- 
tion of Semi-Centennial of State 
at, 196, 197, 202 et seq. 



Wheeling Intelligencer, tribute of, 
to Mr. Davis, 199, 305 

Wheeling Register, letter of Mr. 
Davis to, refusing gubernatorial 
nomination, quoted, 143, 144, 147, 
199 

White, Governor A. B. : letter of, 
quoted, 201 ; 202 

Whitney, William C, 141 

Whyte, William Pinckney, 67, 97, 
178, 182 

Wildey, Thomas, 295 

Wiley, Waitman T., 51 

Willard, Daniel, Mr. Davis' esti- 
mate of, 246, 247 

Williams, John Cassell, 112 

Williams, John Sharp, 170; speech 
of, 176 

Williams, L. J., 20^ 

Wilson, William L., 139, 146, 243, 
259; letters of, 259, 260 

Wilson, Dr. W. P., 112 

Wilson, President, 135, 184 

Winans, Ross, 12 

Winchester, 29 

Windom, William : 65, 97, 233 ; Mr, 
Davis quoted on death of, 234, 
243 ; letters from, 252 et seq.; 257 

Woodside, Dr., 18 

Woodstock, 7, 31, 222, 223, 302 

World's Fair at Chicago, 278, 279 

Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion: 181, 220; Mr. Davis' views 
on, 220, 221 



3»).77-2 



